


it's a long way down

by ghostrat



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Gen, Illustrated, M/M, lots of other characters mentioned but they're just in the background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-09-28 11:14:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 41,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10097369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostrat/pseuds/ghostrat
Summary: It's a big ol' Pirate AU! Captain Taako and his pirate crew rescues an imprisoned Kravitz aboard a rival navy ship. When Kravitz is revealed to boast ocean-controlling powers, they decide to recruit him on their quest to find a grand relic of the sea. But it doesn't take them long to discover that there are more relics with more power than they initially thought.





	1. i - The Oculus

**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna be pretty lengthy, I've got all the chapters planned out, so I hope you enjoy it and want to stick around for the ride! I guess this chapter kind of counts as a prologue, so things will be bigger and more intensive from here on out. 
> 
> Taako/Kravitz gets explicit in chapter 5, but I'm looking forward to putting more of a focus on their adventure outside of that.
> 
> The plot will also differ from the base TAZ storyline, and the relics will be slightly tweaked. This will let it fit the AU better, plus I won't have to wait to hear the end of the TAZ story to be able to finish the fic.
> 
> Title from Bottom Of The River - Delta Rae

A harsh wind blows through the sails of _The Balance_ ; a colossal ship built of dark wood and brightly ornate trimmings. Its elegancy is only countered by its size and ferocity in which it cuts through the ocean waves, headed straight for an oncoming ship. The opposing vessel is much smaller and its decorations fairly modest, although its flag bears the crest of the Calimport navy, and it boasts several canons on either side that could cut through the sturdiest of masts.

The captain of _The Balance_ stands tall beside the wheel, directing the navigator with the aid of a compass clasped in one bejewelled hand. His elven skin is dark and freckled, but his long hair which blows in front of him is whiter than the wax of a candle. He holds it out of his face with one hand, then bellows to his first mate on the deck below him.

“Looks like this is it, Magnus!” He declares, with one final glance at his compass. The needle points directly at the ship as they approach it, and he smiles.

Magnus simply turns his head to look up at the captain, nodding once then rushing to the starboard side of the deck and grasping at the shrouds of rope to steady himself. _The Balance_ begins to slow as they approach, and Magnus can already see the crew on board the other ship readying themselves nervously at the presence of the imposing vessel. He snatches up a pre-prepared rope with a grapple fixed to the end, and several of his crew members follow suit with their own grapples. 

“On Captain Taako’s word!” Magnus shouts.

Captain Taako doesn’t hesitate. “Play nice!” He commands, which everybody aboard knows to mean _tear them to pieces_.

Everyone tosses their grapples over to hook into the navy ship, and they begin to jump aboard.

Shortswords and cutlasses drawn by both crews, the fight is fairly rough. Taako slowly walks down from his quarterdeck and towards the starboard side where the ships have been pulled flush together. His compass still out, he watches Magnus tear through soldiers with both hands on his sword, the beast of a man clearing off most of the deck himself. Soldiers are thrown overboard, knocked out and sliced if they so much as approach the first mate.

“Find the Captain,” Taako declares aloud for all of his crew to hear, while he steps up onto the banister and takes a single broad step onto the deck of the navy ship.

The fighting soon subsides, and he’s left standing in front of the remaining soldiers bound to the mast in the middle of the deck. He waits patiently for Magnus to burst forth from the captain’s quarters, with said captain bound and tossed over one shoulder. A few smaller crew members follow him out, although its clear Magnus has it covered on his own.

The naval captain is dropped to his knees at Taako’s feet. 

“What treasure do you carry, my good man?” Taako asks, looking down his nose at him.

The captain looks up weakly, exhausted from his kerfuffle with Magnus. “What treasure?”

Taako rolls his eyes, sighing audibly. “Let’s not do this. I know you’ve got something valuable, might as well spill it.”

“We don’t carry anything!” He sputters, panicked. “We’re simply transporting a prisoner to Saelmur, all we have are provisions for the crew.”

Taako squints, taken aback by the sincerity in the captain’s voice. “Just one dude? Seems a bit extra,” he remarks, with a waving gesture towards the bound up crew.

“He’s dangerous,” the captain explains. “We have nothing but him. Please let my crew go.”

Taako silently walks past him, heading for the steps down into the brig. He beckons over his shoulder, and a stout dwarf man quickly waddles after him. Magnus begins to follow, but Taako stops him at the door.

“Keep them under control. Hold him there,” he instructs with a swift point at the captain.

Magnus nods and returns to his place amongst the rest of the crew. Taako and the dwarf begin their descent into the belly of the ship.

“What do you think he did?” The dwarf asks eagerly, chuckling conspiratorially to himself. “Killed? Robbed? Reckon he’s a rebel like us, trying to fight the man?”

“Oh, please stop talking, Merle,” Taako attempts in vain, when they finally touch foot down in the brig.

“I’m just saying, if your little compass is broken and they aint got treasure - “

“My compass is _not_ broken,” Taako interrupts immediately. “He’s got to have something valuable down… here.”

They stop walking at the end of the row of empty cells, where they find a man crouching alone in a corner of his cell. He looks up at them immediately. His skin is dark, but unlike Taako’s, its rich with pigment and signs of a life in the sun. His hair is black and dreadlocked, although remarkably neat compared to the rest of his attire. Taako was expecting a feeble man in tattered prisoners clothes, not this smoothly broad figure in a faded black coat similar to his own. 

“Who are you?” The prisoner demands. His voice is hard but his hands are held up to his chest protecting something, bound in iron shackles. Taako flashes him a smile.

“I don’t think you’re really in a position to be asking questions, handsome,” he responds, and leans forward against the cell bars. 

The prisoner stands up. He extends his arms out to help him balance against the swaying of the vessel, and Taako immediately reels back.

“What have you got there?” he asks, trying to sound cool and curious, but there’s a hunger in his eyes he knows is obvious to both Merle and the prisoner. Merle looks up at where Taako is looking, and spies an amulet around the man’s neck, previously hidden by his hands. 

It doesn’t look particularly shiny, which is usually Taako’s M.O., but it’s certainly intricate. From where they’re standing in the dim light of the brig, Merle can’t quite make out the material, whether it’s a rusted metal or an ash coloured wood. But his eyes are drawn to a gem in the centre of what seems to be a dozen precisely carved tentacles, all holding the bright green stone in place.

“Family heirloom,” the prisoner spits. “Who are you?”

Taako and Merle exchange a look, then Taako looks down at his compass. The needle is pointing directly at the prisoner. The captain sighs and pockets it, then leans back on the bars to properly engage with the man on the other side.

“My name’s Taako, and I’ve taken over this here ship. I _thought_ we’d be uncovering some platoon of gold or spices, but all I get is some old prisoner and, what, a month’s worth of rations.” He nods a head towards Merle and introduces, “This is Merle. On-board cleric. Sounds useless, but it’s pretty handy to have someone with divine blessings to patch up an entire crew after a plan gone south.”

Merle stands to attention, smile wide under his mossy beard.

“I gave you mine, how about yours?”

The prisoner startles, not expecting an actual conversation. “Kravitz. Are you pirates or something?”

“Ding ding, good boy,” Taako drawls, already sounding and looking bored. “What about you? You look like you’ve seen some shit. Definitely not navy.”

Kravitz tries to laugh but it comes out as more of a heavy breath. “What do you want with me, then? I’m no one important. You can’t sell me, or…”

“I was thinking more about your necklace.”

“It’s useless without me,” Kravitz quickly interrupts. Taako leans back again, exchanging another curious look with Merle. 

“I didn’t know there was a _use_ to be had — Ah, shit!” Taako is interrupted and the three of them are suddenly swept off their feet when the boat rocks viciously to one side. “What on earth is going on up there?!”

“How about we continue this conversation in a less… precarious setting?” Merle offers, and Taako nods immediately. Merle places his hands around the comically large padlock on Kravitz’s cell door, and after a moment and a brief flash of white light, he pulls the now-unlocked door wide open. Kravitz doesn’t hesitate and runs straight for it, but Taako grabs him around the arm to stop him zipping off without them.

They all hurry back up to the deck to find the naval captain face down in a pool of his own blood, and Magnus with a matching streak across his knuckles. Several of the captured crew members have broken loose from their bindings, and the rest are just about free as well.

Taako lets go of Kravitz and swiftly draws his cutlass on them. Kravitz falls to his knees against the banister of the starboard side, and looks over to see _The Balance_ tied firmly to it. He considers jumping up and over to the other ship, especially since he’s weaponless and defenceless against the fight ensuing around him. But when he turns to look back at Taako, he spots a hidden one of the naval soldiers ready to jump down and surprise the pirate captain from behind.

Kravitz shouts and raises both his bound hands up towards the man. Taako spins on his heel to look at his assailant, just as a huge wave of ocean water comes crashing down over the side of the ship, knocking the soldier out of the way but narrowly avoiding Taako. The pirate captain looks startled to say the least, but his eyes practically bulge out of his head when the water lifts back up again, holding the soldier in a column of its icy grasp. Kravitz throws his hands to one side and the water torrents like a bullet towards the mast of the ship, taking the soldier with it and crashing down to subdue the rest of the bound crew.

Taako looks incredulously at Kravitz. They lock eyes for a brief moment, before Kravitz feels a sharp blow to the head and everything quickly fades to black.

—

Kravits wakes in a much quieter, warmer place. The whistling of the wind against his hair is gone and replaced with slow footsteps pacing around a wooden floor. When he blinks his eyes open, his vision is hazy, but he’s met with a soft candle light; much gentler on his vision than the harsh sun he last remembers. As his head lolls back to try and look up around the room, the footsteps cease, and the only sound he hears is a gentle lapping of calmer waves hitting the hull beneath them.

When his eyes start to close again, a palm gently taps his cheeks to startle him back to consciousness.

“Sorry for knockin’ you out,” a gruff voice says, trying his best to be quiet. Kravitz’s vision focuses on the beefy first mate kneeling in front of him, whose expression is kind and apologetic. “Didn’t know if you were going to go for us next.”

Kravitz remembers the events before his blackout, and he curses himself for commanding the waves in front of other people, rather than keeping the power to himself.

He realises that Taako is in the room as well, standing a few yards away and leaning back against a desk. The captain has his hand up to examine his nails, but his gaze is fixed on Kravitz. Kravitz looks away to survey the rest of the room, and he comes to a quick conclusion that they’re in the captain’s quarters.

“Have you ever seen one of these?” Taako asks, and begins to approach where the former prisoner is sitting. Instinctively, Kravitz tenses up and goes to lift his hands to cover his amulet. In that moment, he realises that his hands have been unbound, and he also finds that the necklace is missing. He returns his gaze to Taako, panicked.

Taako ignores his look and holds out his compass for Kravitz to see. The needle is pointing straight back at Taako.

“A compass?” he offers, thinking that perhaps co-operation will earn him some trust, and maybe give him advantage on a persuasion roll to get that amulet back.

Taako slips one hand into his captain’s coat and pulls out the amulet that Kravitz feels naked without. He holds it up by the chain, and the needle on the compass spins to follow it wherever it swings.

“I got this nifty little fella from a fellow elf who tried to swindle me. How insulting is that? So I had to take his favourite toy away from him, and his hands for good measure.” The casualness in which Taako speaks has Kravitz swallowing a thick lump in his throat, but he nods in understanding, willing Taako to continue.

“It’s made life on the seas a lot easier for us here. Who needs north when you can just bee-line straight to the most valuable thing in reach?” He grins a big, toothy grin. He doesn’t seem even slightly disappointed when he adds, “But the first thing I found wasn’t golden at all.”

Taako puts the compass back in his coat, then reaches under the collar of his tunic and pulls out a necklace of his own. Only, at the end of the chain isn’t any kind of pendant, but what looks to be some kind of spyglass lens about two inches in diameter. When he turns it on its side, it only appears to be an inch thick, and Kravitz wonders if there’s some kind of piece missing from it.

“I call it the Oculus. Neat, huh? It does a very _nifty_ job of showing things as they really are. Helpful at revealing liars, theives, magic…” He trails off, and something in his eyes changes. He looks almost sad.

“It’s broken. Or, incomplete, or something. I’ve been using my compass to try and find the missing piece, but so far it’s shown up nothing but moody gold and… fancy prisoners.” His smile flashes back at Kravitz.

“I’m… sorry?” Kravitz attempts, and Taako lets out a soft bark of laughter.

Without warning, he tosses the tentacled amulet to Kravitz, who startles but just manages to catch it. When it comes into contact with his hands, the small gem at its centre revitalises into a more vivid green. 

“You were right,” Taako adds. “I tried wiggling my fingers around and I didn’t get a single splash. Even gave Magnus a go. It’s all yours.”

“What!” A voice from the back of the room exclaims, and Kravitz looks over to find a very offended Merle sitting at the desk behind them. “ _I_ didn’t get a turn.” Magnus chuckles under his breath.

Taako ignores him and leans a little further into Kravitz’s personal space. 

“So now I’ve shared with you,” he starts, voice low, “How about you share with me?” Taako pauses and squints at him. “What the _fuck_ are you?”

Kravitz heaves a big, tired breath. “Would you believe me if I told you that I didn’t know?” He tries, and Taako simply raises an eyebrow. “Didn’t think so. But I don’t have very much to go off.”

“Where did you come from, then? Need a family to have a family heirloom,” Taako reasons, nodding at the amulet now safely back around Kravitz’s neck.

“It’s not really a family heirloom. I’ve just… always had it. Look…” He sighs again, and begins to untuck his shirt from his belt. Taako leans back a little, like he’s trying to survey a better look, and Kravitz pulls his shirt up to the bottom of his ribs. He keeps his head ducked aside, avoiding eye contact as Taako leans in and brushes a curious hand across his navel.

“I just… exist.”

“Huh,” he hears the elf hum, as his warm hands dart across where his belly button _should_ be, but instead feels smooth flesh. “That’s - A little creepy, not going to lie.”

Kravitz shirt is quickly tucked back down, swatting Taako’s lingering hand away from his abdomen. 

“And honestly,” Kravitz adds, “The amulet doesn’t do what you think it does. It’s… more like a safety harness. I don’t need it to control the sea. It just…” He pauses and brushes a thumb over the gemstone. “It keeps the creatures of the deep on your side.”

“I suppose I can see why that would be useful…” Taako smirks, then stands back up to his full height. He dusts himself off, stares down at Kravitz for a moment, then something seems to click in his mind.

He turns to look at Magnus and Merle and nods once. Magnus takes a step back as Taako reaches an open hand out towards Kravitz.

“I’ve seen a lot of things out here. There’s still plenty I don’t understand, and never will. But I’ve also followed a code of fate, and it hasn’t done me wrong so far.”

Kravitz’s eyes lift from Taako’s hand up to his face as the elf talks at him.

“So I may not understand you, or how on earth you… do. But I know an opportunity when I see one. And I hope you do too. Use your gifts to help me on my journey, and you will be repaid in trust, recognition, and riches.”

Taako’s gaze has not wavered since he offered his hand and looked Kravitz in the eye. Kravitz can feel the severity of Taako’s desire, for his treasure, and this huge step forward. 

There’s something drawing him forward, urging him to take Taako’s hand, but he holds himself steady to ask one thing before he agrees.

“What will the Oculus do when it’s complete?”

“It… makes things.”

Kravitz squints. “What does it make?”

Taako’s grin spreads wide across his face.

“Anything I want.”

Taako’s grasp is warm and firm.


	2. ii - The Gauntlet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew set forth to the Trackless Sea, searching for the underwater city of Phandalin and the great power which lies within it. Upon collecting a gauntlet which can summon fire even in the depths of the ocean, they also find evidence that there could be more powerful relics spread across the seas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for everyone's kind words on the previous chapter! It's seriously so nice seeing everyone enjoying my rendition of this AU so much and I'm really hoping you enjoy the future chapters!! Ty all for making me feel so welcome as a new creator in this fandom ;o;

Mingling with the ship’s crew has been a strange experience for Kravitz over the last few nights. While they sailed on towards Theymarsh, Taako would steal Kravitz into his quarters and try to pry as much information from him as he could. Their conversations would always end up in repetitive circles, but the time spent alone together was always calming and pleasant. Kravitz had the time to admire Taako’s many bounties, trinkets, and treasures stored around his room, from jewellery and clothing to weapons and maps. He learnt of the scam which enabled Taako to pawn a magic rock in exchange for the beastly ship, _The Balance_ , and how Taako first began his life at sea as a cook on a travellers ferry across the Lake of Steam.

But since the ship ported in Theymarsh, Taako has been consistently on land, leaving Kravitz at the mercy of the rest of the crew. At first everyone prodded and poked, asked question after question, which became increasingly harder to dodge or explain. Thankfully, after the first night aboard, boredom hit the majority of them and they left him to his own devices. He finally had a chance to get to know the layout of the crew quarters, and find himself a place amidst everyone in the mess cabin. 

He found so far that the nicest of the bunch is a short dragonborn woman named Carey, who spends most of her time glued to the hip of an orc woman who nearly rivalled the size of Magnus. This orc companion, Killian, was cold and sharp when Kravitz first encountered her, but after a few awkward but well-meant conversations Carey, Killian eventually softened up around him. They soon became his favourite pair to sit with and talk to.

“Do you know what the captain is doing on shore?” He asks suddenly one night, when they’re all hunched over bowls of unappealing stew. Carey and Killian look at each other mid-mouthful of their dinner.

“Well, Theymarsh aint the most lavish of places, so he’s probably just pawning off some of the more robust bounties we’ve picked up, you know? We looted a whole ship of its wines last month and we’ve just been carrying it around with us for way too long, no doubt it’s all business like that.” Carey nods to herself as she speaks assuredly, rewarding her deductions with another big mouthful of stew.

“Nah friend, that’s hogwash!” Pipes up a voice from behind Kravitz. He turns to find a halfling woman clutching her bowl and approaching their table. He struggles to remember for a moment, but thinks her name is Hurley. “He’s off scouting! Didn’t you hear?”

“We don’t all have a plus-twenty in eavesdropping, Hurley,” Killian grumbles with a roll of her eyes. “You need to stop listening in on the captain’s conversations.”

Hurley shrugs as she slides into the bench seat next to Kravitz. Everyone is silent down at their food for a moment, before Carey slowly lifts her head back up.

“What did you hear?” She asks guiltily, earning a hard nudge from Killian.

Hurley jumps at the opportunity to relay gossip and leans far over the table to talk to them. “You know a few of his old maps, the ones he’s had for years? Apparently a couple of ‘em cross over, and there’s a treasure spot we’ve never been able to find. I don’t know why, but it seems he’s honing in on that and trying to get more information on it. I think there’s something real special there!”

Kravitz is mostly silent, listening while he pretends to eat, pondering what it could mean. He remembers seeing plenty of these maps in Taako’s cabin, none of them particularly hidden - the opposite in fact. They would be splayed across his desk, bed, some even hanging on the walls. Plenty were covered in scribbles, and some looked so old they would turn to dust if he so much as breathed on them.

When Hurley turns to him and asks what he thinks, he tells her all of this, finding no desire to keep secrets from his new crew mates. “I didn’t look very hard at them though, so I wouldn’t know of any special place on there. Maybe you’re right - maybe he’s gone to find a second opinion.”

It’s the next day at high noon, while Kravitz is considering stepping ashore for a wander around the port, when Taako returns with Merle at his side and a scroll holder slung over one shoulder. They approach the ship with haste, and the moment Taako has his foot set on the deck, he’s singing orders for the crew to disembark. Kravitz stands dumbly in the centre of the action momentarily, until Taako has grabbed his forearm and begun to drag him into the captain’s quarters.

In the room with them is Magnus standing guard by the door and Merle sitting up on Taako’s chair, watching Taako as he drops the wooden tube off his shoulder and empties all the papers out onto his table. Kravitz stands and waits as Taako spreads the papers out, lining up a few misaligned maps and piling up sections of notes and diary entires written in foreign hands.

When everything is displayed out to the best of his ability, Taako drops his hands down on the surface top and leans forward on them.

“Have you ever heard of Phandalin?” He asks, eyes wide with excitement.

Kravitz is taken aback by the question, and fiddles aimlessly with his amulet while he thinks about what on earth that could mean for their voyage. “Yes,” he says eventually, carefully. “Of course. The city lost to the surface. It’s historical legend. Is that what you’ve been off asking people about?”

Taako squints, then stalks around the table until he’s standing at Kravitz’s side. “Why do you hesitate?” He questions, tilting his head while he studies Kravitz’s expression. Kravitz leans back instinctively. 

“Because you sound like you’ve found it.” Taako’s piercing gaze doesn’t break, so he continues. “Because the legends all say something about Phandalin falling to a great power. And most suggest that the power lies dormant within the lost city. Is that really something you want to go messing around with?”

Taako eases back a little, smirking as he pulls his Oculus lens from the chain around his neck.

“Would you not call this a power?” he asks, rolling the brass lens between his fingers. “Don’t you think it could be the very thing I’m looking for? Those fools probably wouldn’t have known how to use it. And I -“

“And you do?” Kravitz fills in for him. Taako looks livid at the interruption.

“And I _know my limits_ ,” he corrects, sticking his nose up in the air. “I wouldn’t sink my ship under the weight of gold. Phandalin merely got too greedy.”

Merle interrupts them both at this point, his legs swing eagerly off the edge of the chair enough to catch their attention. “Tell him about the plan, Taako! We can argue semantics when we’ve got the damn thing in our hands.”

Taako smiles in agreement and tucks the Oculus back under his blouse.

“You found it?” Kravitz asks incredulously.

“No, but I know how to.”

The way Taako leans into Kravitz makes him more than a little nervous. He leans away from it, but stands his ground. Taako eventually reaches out, ready to touch Kravitz’s amulet, but seems to think better of it before he can make contact. He grabs Kravitz’s hand instead, holding it steadily between both of his own.

“You have a certain… simpatico with the sea.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Kravitz scoffs.

“It just so happens that I’ve discovered… _Which_ sea that Phandalin fell into.”

Kravitz’s hand tenses in Taako’s gentle hold, but he doesn’t pull it away. 

“If we make our way to the Trackless Sea, what do you think you could do once we’re there?”

Kravitz finally pulls his hand away, only to slip it awkwardly into his coat pocket. He thinks on that for a moment, before closing his eyes and sighing. This is indeed what he signed up for, so he can’t think of any reason to butt heads any longer.

“I can find it,” he says quietly. “Take me there, let me in the water. I’ll find it for you. Especially if this object has great power like the legends say.”

Taako looks absolutely giddy. “Onwards, then! While we sail, we drink! I’m all for pre-emptive celebration, how about you boys?”

Merle and Magnus holler in agreement, and even Kravitz can’t help but relax when Taako uncorks a bottle of wine from his desk and pours them all a cup.

—

Kravitz is lying awake in one of the empty crew hammocks when the ship rolls into the Trackless Sea. He can feel it in the water around them, beneath him, before Magnus has even come to wake him. He carefully eases himself out of the bed and heads towards the ladder leading to the deck, doing his best not to wake any of his crew mates.

Magnus pulls the hatch open just as he goes to touch it, the two of them startling at the sight of each other.

“We’re, uh - Well, I guess you know already,” Magnus tries with a shrug, and Kravitz nods in agreement. 

It’s the dead of night above deck, with still waters below and a crystal clear sky above. They’re far from any real continental land masses, although he can see a faint light of civilisation coming from the isle of Lantan in the distance. He stands with Magnus for a moment, breathing in the ocean air and revelling in the calm quiet of the night.

Their spell is broken by the rhythmic tapping of Taako’s heeled boots on the deck behind them. He emerges from his quarters, looking expectantly at Kravitz.

“It’s, uh. Kind of cold out tonight. You going to be okay in the water?”

“Can’t really feel it.” Kravitz shrugs and smiles in an attempt to reassure the captain. 

At the port side of the deck, Magnus gets to work tying a rope around one of the ship’s notches. Kravitz only hesitates for a moment at the edge of the ship, before he jumps forward to dive headfirst in. As he falls, he hears a startled shout from behind him, but it’s instantly silenced the moment he breaks the surface of the water.

Coming into contact with the icy depths immediately sends a soothing pulse through his body. He feels light, relaxed, and at peace in the water, and he notes to himself how long it’s been since he had a chance to actually swim. While he treads about a foot underneath the surface of the water, he opens his mouth and takes a deep breath in, letting the water flow through him and cool him from the inside out. Although it’s pleasant and familiar, he remembers the shout he’d heard as he was diving, and opts to quickly swim back up to the side of the ship so the others know not to worry.

He grabs onto the rope Magnus has thrown down the side, and hoists himself up against one of the protruding trims that wrap around the length of the ship. He can see Magnus, Merle and Taako all leaning over the edge of the deck, worry and wonder in their eyes.

“I’m fine,” he calls out for posterity’s sake. “Just getting into the swing of it again.” 

He hoists himself up further, so most of his body is out of the water, holding himself against the side of the ship and using the rope for assistance. Once he’s out, he leans himself forward, takes a deep, calming breath, and lowers one hand into the water. He dips his fingers in up to the first knuckle, closes his eyes and waits. His hand subconsciously moves left and right, until he starts to feel something indescribable tugging him westward. It feels close, and can never quite explain how, but he knows it’s what he’s looking for.

It takes a minute or two for him to hoist himself back up onto the deck, even with the others’ help. As soon as he’s within earshot, he declares, “It’s west, and it’s close. Not a mile away.”

Taako’s eyes widen, although he clearly fights to keep his composure.

Magnus offers, “We’re shit out of luck for wind, and it’s a whole _thing_ to get rowing; do you think you could… influence us in that direction?”

Kravitz stills for a moment, then laughs quietly to himself. “Yes, I suppose I could,” he agrees, having not even thought of that before. With a gentle wave of his hand, the water begins to flow in their direction, slowly pushing the ship west. Taako signals to the navigator at the wheel to turn the ship into the current, and they begin to drift towards more open sea.

As they float, Taako stands with Kravitz at the bow of the ship, both of them leaning their elbows against the banisters and watching the inky black water roll on by. They don’t even have a chance to chat before Kravitz has stood upright and declared their arrival, despite the continued emptiness of the sea surrounding them on all sides.

“So,” Merle starts as they regroup back at the port side of the deck. “How exactly are we going to get there? I don’t suppose anyone can drive this thing under water?”

Magnus, who has been getting increasingly excited in the form of doing little jogs on the spot, begins to slow and still at the realisation that they need a plan. Taako looks straight at Kravitz, who had been hoping his side of the plan was finished already.

Knowing better, he sighs and cracks his knuckles in preparation.

“If you don’t mind getting a little wet, I’ll see what I can do.”

He lowers himself back into the water, sliding down the rope this time. He beckons for the others to join him, and the three heads of the ship take turns in edging down the rope. Taako, the last one left aboard, hesitates and scrunches his hands into fists when Magnus and Merle hoot and holler about the freezing touch of the water. 

“You know, maybe I…“

“Taako,” Kravitz calls out. “It’s fine. I’ve got you.”

Taako takes a deep breath, then throws off his captain’s hat and coat with a single gesture and slides down the rope before he has a chance to change his mind. As soon as his skin hits the water he gasps, not quite able to scream from the pure shock of it.

Kravitz presses his palms together, then throws his hands outward to either side of him. The four of them begin to sink, but the surface of the water follows them downwards, like the small section of water they’re treading in is slowly being drained. The three pirates look up incredulously at the walls of water either side of them, then up above when they dip low enough and the surface closes overheard, leaving them in a dome of air beneath the ocean waves.

Kravitz doesn’t speak for a while, using all of his focus to concentrate on keeping up the small dome he’s made for them. Eventually he says, “We’re going to be sinking for a while; this thing could be at the bottom of the ocean. You may begin to feel sick. But please stay where I can see you so I can give us air.”

The pirates instinctively tread a little closer together then, still looking around as they sink lower and lower into the depths surrounding them. Taako already feels ill, not from the change in depth, but simply from staring around into completely blackness, not knowing what could possibly be out there. In a momentary lapse of his courage, he wraps his arms around one of Kravitz’s shoulders and hides his head in the man’s coat.

The action startles Kravitz enough for the dome of air to quiver, but he steadies himself fast enough to push it back a little further and give them more room to breathe. 

It feels like they’ve been falling for an hour before Magnus feels the soles of his boots touch against something hard and sturdy. The moment he realises he’s standing on rock bed, he lets out a loud, hearty sigh, sounding more like a shout of pure relief. Kravitz and Taako touch it next, and soon Merle is joining them as his short legs catch up and give him proper purchase to stand.

Taako immediately drops down onto his ass and lays on his back with his limbs stretched out.

“I’m never swimming again. My legs are dead,” he declares dramatically. Kravitz holds back a chuckle, and expands their dome of air out a few more yards now that he doesn’t have to concentrate on treading water. He allows them time to regroup and collect themselves, in doing so realising that Magnus is looking a little shakier than normal.

“Everything okay, Magnus?” Kravitz asks carefully. Magnus startles slightly at the sound of his voice.

“Oh. Yeah, I’m good. I just. Can’t really see much of anything. Kinda spooky. I don’t want to, you know, walk out of the safety circle accidentally.”

“Yeah,” Taako pipes up, voice a little weak, “Now that you mention it, I can’t see so good. And _I_ can usually see in the dark.”

Kravitz releases a cautious breath. He hadn’t thought about his companions being blinded by the absolute dark. With one hand still outstretched to maintain their dome, he pats himself down with the other, albeit uselessly. He then looks around at the water on all sides, and jumps at a sudden thought.

“I think I can call on some friends. Don’t startle, they’re safe,” he declares, which immediately sends Taako, Merle and Magnus huddling closer together. 

Kravitz doesn’t seem to do much of anything, but the green gem in his necklace momentarily brightens in hue - if the others could even see it. It only takes a few moments for his silent command to take effect, before small lights are slowly approaching their dome. The pirates’ eyes are all drawn to them, and although they aren’t familiar with the species at all, they recognise dozens of tiny fish swimming around the edge of their safety circle. They all appear to be the size of a thumb, their heads all brightly luminescent like underwater fireflies.

“Does this help?” Kravitz asks, and the others are immediately nodding in agreement. “Wonderful. Let’s, uh… Figure out where we are, I guess.”

The fish lights swim alongside them wherever they walk, and for a while there isn’t much for them to actually light up. But as they carefully trek across the rocky sea bed, Kravitz eventually sets foot on something much smoother. So ridiculously so that he nearly slips over when he steps down on it. Everybody snaps to attention as he rights himself, and with another silent command, the fish lights swim in formation ahead of them so they can see what they’ve stumbled onto.

Taako’s eyes widen in amazement as the fish scatter in small schools to reveal structures, towers, walls and pillars. He walks ahead of Kravitz, hands raised to touch the wall of water in front of him like he can’t get close quickly enough. They weave through the structures for a few minutes, until Kravitz begins to slow and realisation dawns on the four of them.

“This is… it’s a village. We’re in a street,” Kravitz says aloud, and Magnus turns to him in excitement.

“Krav, you found _Phandalin_!”

Taako is still enamoured with what lay ahead, but Merle doesn’t appear to share their excitement. He looks around in all directions, squinting and scratching hesitantly at his beard.

“I know this is a big moment and all… but what kind of city is this? Everything’s smooth and black, like… Like the whole city is made of glass. This don’t feel right.”

Magnus itches behind his head, like he hadn’t even noticed the strange texture of the ground and structures they’ve been moving between. Kravitz ponders the thought as well, wondering what could have turned Phandalin into such a state.

“It’s no water magic I’ve heard of,” he offers, only deepening the frown on Merle’s face. “Taako, what do you -“

Taako hasn’t moved from his place at the head of the circle, but when Kravitz looks at him now, he realises he has an arm extended out into the water. Taako turns his head to look at him, and points his finger into the distance.

“There’s a light,” he says, voice shaking with excitement.

They quicken their pace in the direction Taako has found, still being careful not to trip or fall on the smooth glassy ground. As they pass out of the cramped neighbourhood they stumbled into, the four of them can all clearly see the light Taako had pointed towards. The pure relief of discovering something sends a wave of warmth through all of them, and Kravitz sends his fish to swim over, forming a thin line so they can see everything between them and the distance. It looks to be a wide open space, perhaps what was once a park on the surface, and the light looks to be coming from inside a small house-like structure.

Merle has to just about grasp a fist in Taako’s trousers to stop him running into the ocean water to get there first. When they finally reach the structure, their lights swim around in a larger formation to reveal the outside of it more clearly. It’s tall and pointed, almost like a steeple, although the roof is nonexistent. When they notice the walls come to halt at a jagged edge, the four of them realise that much of the city is in similar disrepair. By the look on his face, Merle’s uneasy feeling has spread to Magnus now, but they continue inside the steeple to seek the light. 

The second Taako has set foot over the threshold, he stops, and stands dead still with his eyes locked onto the light.

“What… is that?” he murmurs under his breath, but the dead silence of the ocean depths make it easy for him to be heard. “It’s… fire?”

The four of them look onward, hypnotised by the light at the back of the building. 

“It’s warm,” Magnus declares, snapping all four of them out of their trance. “That’s why it’s so warm down here.”

“How is this possible?” Merle questions, stepping closer to the edge to join Taako. Kravitz has yet to move, keeping their dome fixed in place, and his eyes set on the small ball of fire.

“It looks like something’s lit up. Is that a hand underneath it?” Taako reaches out to touch the water again, pulling his hand back and smiling at it. “The water’s warm too,” he notes, then looks back at Kravitz. “Come on, big boy. Get us over there.”

Kravitz hesitates another moment. “This feels… dangerous.”

“Well yeah, my dude, we’re taking a stroll at the bottom of the ocean! I’m not bailing now!”

With a nervous step, Kravitz inches them across the steeple. There’s no furniture inside, just a sleek glass floor, until they reach the floating fire fixed atop a podium of chest-height. Kravitz centres their dome around the podium, and the four of them watch in awe as the flame flickers when it crosses the threshold from water to air, but it continues to burn. Being in the same space as it is impossibly warm, but the heat doesn’t feel threatening.

“It’s a glove,” Magnus notes, when they surround the podium to inspect the chainmail glove that the flame is coming from. It sits atop the fingertips of the glove - or, what it appears to be, a gauntlet - like a mage’s hand summoning a fireball.

With sickening curiosity, Taako cuts his hand through the tip of the flame. It flickers and licks at his hand, just as normal fire would. Instinctively, Merle pulls him back as soon as he sees Taako trying to play with it.

“I’m sorry it’s not your spyglass,” Kravitz eventually says, and Taako finally seems to snap out of his enamoured trance. He takes another look around the empty room, then back at the gauntlet. As a second thought, he then reaches into his pocket and pulls out his compass. As soon as he opens the cover, the needle flies aggressively towards the gauntlet, which is enough to convince him of its worth.

“It’s still something,” he shrugs, then reaches towards it.

None of his companions make any move to stop him, but he reels back suddenly and without warning before he can come close to touching the glove. They don’t have a chance to ask what’s wrong before he’s tugging at his chain and pulling the oculus from around his neck.

“The lens - it’s burning hot,” he explains, papping at it with his hands like he’s holding a hot potato. 

“Has it ever done that before?” Kravitz asks hesitantly.

“Never. I know it’s metal and all, and it’s kinda hot down here, but like - My belt aint reacting like this. Is it because it’s magic?” Taako babbles, still refusing to let go of it.

“Alright,” Magnus interrupts, “Let’s get this show on the road. Papa wants a magic fire hand.” He pushes past Taako to approach the podium, but shoves a little too hard and ruins Taako’s footing. He skids backwards, falling on his ass and sliding across the glass floor. His companions stop and turns to make sure he’s okay, and they all freeze at the sight of him.

One of his arms is left dangling outside their air bubble, and Taako stares at it, horrified. “Uh, the. The water is freezing again,” he explains, voice shaking a little. “It’s…” 

He shifts ever so slightly to get a better footing and hoist himself up, and as he does so, his foot sinks into the ground. All four pairs of eyes dart to look at the dip in the floor, where the glass looks like it’s melted under his touch. Taako quickly scrambles up so all of him is within the safety of the bubble, but all of them find their feet are slowly sinking with each movement they make.

“What’s going on,” Taako demands, looking at Kravitz like he knows everything about weird underwater occurrences. Kravitz only responds with a startled, incredulous look, before Taako reaches out and snatches the glove from the podium.

“We’re getting out of here.”

The second he grabs it, the fire extinguishes, and they’re left in darkness once more. It takes Kravitz a minute to summon the light fish back to them - but by the time they’re surrounded in their twinkling light source, they’ve already noticed a drastic change in Phandalin.

It’s as if the very structure of the town is melting; the glass no longer sealed, the buildings and the ground oozing into a gooey, watery state. Taller sections of the city, like larger support beams and building tops, haven’t yet begun to melt, but as their foundations weaken the structures begin to fall. The first casualty is what looks to be a giant glass tree across the distance of the open space; its solid top half comes crashing down as its roots melt, and it causes a huge ripple across the town. Pieces of the steeple begin to crumble, even the podium falling to one side, revealing a heavy looking lock box beneath it. Magnus grabs it without hesitation, then wraps one hand around Kravitz’s upper arm and pulls him close.

“Get. Us. Out. Of. Here.”

Kravitz, previously paralysed by fear of the falling glass city, squeezes his hands into fists to bring the dome of air closer around them, and a current begins to pick up under their feet. The water rushes in beneath them and they start to tread in place again, only this time the rush of water coming in from under them is like a torrent pushing them skyward.

In Kravitz’s haste (and in his defence, Magnus Burnsides snarling at you can be a soul-shaking experience), their trajectory pushes them into an unstable structure falling from above them. Magnus immediately guards his body around Taako, and Merle grabs Kravitz closer to them as an after thought. A huge block of the black glass scrapes by Magnus’ back, and a few fly-away beams pierce past Kravitz and Merle. As Kravitz turns to look at the damage, he feels an uncomfortable pain in his neck, and he quickly realises the chain of his amulet has caught one of the glass splinters. He doesn’t even have time to reach for it before the chain has snapped and the amulet is plummeting into the depths below.

The dome around them quivers and shakes as Kravitz looks down at his soon-to-be-lost treasure. Merle must have seen it happen, because he gives Kravitz a hard smack across the face and shouts at him with a mouth full of water.

“You said yourself it wasn’t useful! We’re _sinking_!”

Kravitz pushes forward before he has a chance to change his mind. Merle is right - As much as the necklace is a part of him, he can’t let his crew mates drown. The current of water picks up again and surges them skyward, to a rapidly approaching moonlit sky.

The pirates gasp at the fresh, natural air as soon as they breach the surface. Magnus treads water with one hand with the other remains clutched firmly around his captain, still shaking slightly from the shock of the experience. Merle crawls up to grab at Kravitz’s shoulders - knowing that Kravitz won’t have any trouble keeping him afloat. After regaining their composure, they all take a moment to look around in the waning moonlight, in search of _The Balance_.

Above water, Taako’s vision steadies in the dark, especially with the rapidly approaching sunrise offering light from the horizon. He raises a hand to tiredly point in the distance at the small shape of their ship on the horizon. Kravitz summons a current for them to drift speedily towards their terra firma. 

—

Taako looks much smaller without his hat and coat; no embellished shoulder pads or feather accessories to accentuate his silhouette. Especially with his hair damp and flat, being squeezed out in bunches by his slender, shaking hands. In such a casual state, wearing only boots, leggings and an untucked blouse, Kravitz feels like he shouldn’t be here, he shouldn’t see the captain like this.

But Magnus stands firmly at the door, stopping anyone from entering, as well as stopping Kravitz from leaving. He’s been summoned to the captain’s cabin less than an hour after their return to the deck, to find Taako quietly fixing himself after their adventure. Merle has taken his place at Taako’s main seat, and has his hands wrapped around a vial of medicine, charging it with a holy energy.

He stands nervously, waiting for somebody to speak, waiting for somebody to turn the blame onto him. Instead, when Taako acts, he simply turns towards his desk and lifts up the lock box snatched from Phandalin.

Inside appears to be a collection of papers, books and stones, untouched by the water from their previous home. Taako grabs a single sheet of parchment from inside, and hands it directly to Kravitz.

“Do you know anything about this?”

Kravitz stares at Taako incredulously, then quickly averts his gaze to the paper in his hands. It appears to be a drawing of symbols, all aligned in a perfect circle. A circle, a hand, an infinite twist, a diamond, a goblet, a bell and a spiral. A line is drawn from each symbol to meet in a point at the centre of the circle. There’s a faint script written in an unknown hand around the edges of the paper, with more lines drawn between paragraphs and each symbol - no doubt to be information about each, but too indistinguishable to read.

After studying it for a moment, Kravitz lifts his head to look back up at Taako.

“What is this?”

Taako turns back to the box, rifles through for a moment, and pulls out another sheet of paper. This one is small and torn. Kravitz doesn’t need to inspect it as close to recognise a drawing of Taako’s Oculus, with the matching symbol of the circle drawn next to it. There’s more indistinguishable text he can’t understand, and on the tear line is a ripped drawing of their new found gauntlet. He can just make out the faded drawing of the hand symbol next to it.

“What do you think?” Taako asks, and when Kravitz looks up at him, he notices a severe lack of flair. This isn’t an attempt to dramatise or tempt like when he first had Kravitz in his cabin. There’s a shocking amount of sincerity and uncertainty in Taako’s eyes, like he genuinely wants Kravitz’s help, or he needs to have Kravitz’s approval.

That fills Kravitz with… something. A burning determination that has him clutching the papers tight and nodding at his crew mates.

“I think we’ve got a lot more missing pieces to find.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next stop, the Whalebones archipelago! The boys don't quite know what they're looking for yet, but they've got a lot of information to sift through... What will they find buried beneath the muddy sands of the Whalebones?


	3. iii - The Sash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Whalebones are a cluster of small islands, due west off the Sword Coast. Though mostly uninhabited, it appears there may be some connection to the missing relics amidst the white shores of the archipelago.

Miles below civilisation, a low rumble reverberates through an intricate crystal cave. A crystallised piece of rock shakes, and falls, floating down until it lands silently in the seabed. A creature stirs.

—

Taako draws out a long, frustrated hum. Kravitz stirs, then begins to blink awake, hoisting himself up into a sitting position from where he’s fallen asleep on the captain’s bed.

“Something wrong?” he asks, voice scratchy and eyes bleary. He can’t remember falling asleep.

Taako responds with a similar, slightly louder hum. He doesn’t look up from where he’s bent over his desk, head in his hands, fingers tangled in his hair. Kravitz takes it that Taako is more or less muttering to himself.

Just as he rolls over, planning on getting to know the softness of an actual mattress again, Taako pipes up. He sounds exhausted and frustrated; at the end of his metaphysical rope.

“I don’t understand how it lines up,” he snaps, finally turning to look at Kravitz. Kravitz awkwardly sits back up, still half asleep. “Why have I never heard of these relics before? What happened to all of them? Who _made_ them?”

Kravitz offers a sleepy shrug, and Taako turns back to his desk and the mess of papers there. The contents of the Phandalin lock box have been emptied out, and Kravitz wonders how long he’s been asleep. As far as he remembers, Taako had been pouring over them for a good six hours before he passed out.

Taako reaches for the gauntlet from where it sits on display at the back of his desk.

“It doesn’t… _do_ anything. It doesn’t do what it’s _supposed_ to. It’s warm to wear, but I can’t get a single flame out of it.”

“You sure you want to be attempting that on a wooden boat?” Kravitz mumbles, but Taako pays him no mind.

“It’s just like my lens… I’m given a glimpse of its power, but I know it’s supposed to work in other ways. Nothing here says anything about a spyglass receptacle - I don’t even know if there’s a missing piece to find.”

Kravitz finally lays back down, letting his head hit the pillow. It’s much easier to think when he’s staring at the ceiling, focusing all of his attention on the ebb and flow of their vessel and the gentle currents which surround them. He thinks back to the symbols, written all over papers and stones within the lock box, and how they could possibly… fit together…

He sits upright.

“The relics all work together,” he says suddenly. Taako turns suddenly to look at him. “It seems they’re all unique pieces… But maybe their power ties in as one, and only works when they’re brought together as a unit.”

Taako drops the gauntlet on his desk with a loud thunk. His hand raises and rakes his fingers through his hair, clearing it from his face as he thinks over that possibility. Kravitz finally hoists himself up off the bed (honestly, still can’t remember when he actually laid down) and wanders over to where he’s sitting.

“So if we can find them all…”

“What a way to rule the seas, huh?” Taako chuckles, leaning back in his chair. “The only problem now is deciphering all this… bullshit.” He waves a hand across all the papers and maps, sending some of them fluttering across the desk.

Kravitz leans down, resting one hand on the back of Taako’s chair and inspecting the papers over his shoulder.

“Well, let’s start with what we know. That’s clearly the Whalebones Archipelago there, so maybe if there’s something else that -“

“Wait,” Taako interrupts. “What? What’s the Whalebones?”

Kravitz reaches a hand out and props a finger down on one of the maps. Although - map is a generous term. It looks more like messy, jumbled scrawlings, but Kravitz knows the sizes and positions of the shapes enough to recognise the archipelago.

“There’s an archipelago called the Whalebones, just off the Sword Coast. I’m certain that’s what this map is of.”

Taako has spun in his chair and grabbed the lapels of Kravitz’s coat, pulling him down to beam in his face.

“You’re _brilliant_ , my man,” he declares, causing Kravitz to chuckle uncomfortably and lean back from Taako’s grasp.

“No, I mean it!” Taako adds, standing up from his chair. His eyes are wide, and he stares at Kravitz in amazement and adoration. Kravitz takes an automatic step back; having been aboard _The Balance_ for only a month or two, he’s already familiar enough with the captain to know he can get volatile when he’s excited.

But Taako closes the gap between them swiftly, grabbing Kravitz’s lapels and tugging him closer.

“You swept up out of nowhere and risked your life for us. You’ve put us on the path of something huge, something… life changing. Gold isn’t good enough to thank you.”

Kravitz’s cool skin begins to burn up when he realises Taako isn’t making eye contact; his gaze is rather transfixed somewhere lower on Kravitz’s face, and it doesn’t take him long to figure out that Taako is staring at his mouth. He only hesitates out of fear of what the rest of the crew will do to him if they found him in Taako’s cabin like this; an outsider, a stranger, suddenly so swept up in the captain’s grasp.

“What’s wrong?” Taako asks, but he doesn’t seem particularly alarmed. He’s still smiling as he loosens one of his hands from the grip in his coat and slides up his chest, resting around the back of Kravitz’s neck.

“Your first mate…” Kravitz finally stammers. “He’s huge.”

Taako laughter is musical as he gives Kravitz one last little tug closer to him. Their bodies are flush together now, and Kravitz feels the back of his legs bump against the edge of the bed.

The loud, hammering knock at the door only raps twice before it’s flung open with the casual force of Magnus Burnsides. Kravitz’s heart seizes in his chest, until he realises Taako has already zipped out of his grasp, standing a full foot away from him and inspecting his nails nonchalantly. 

“Captain, we’re coming up on - “ Magnus pauses, then suddenly notes the tone of the room. “Sorry, am I interrupting something?”

“Kravitz had a breakthrough,” Taako explains, dropping his hand back down to dust off the front of his shirt. “He was explaining the _Whalebone_ to me.”

Kravitz is grateful for his dark skin that hides most of the flush across his face. He turns away from Magnus quickly, excusing himself to Taako’s desk to grab the map of the archipelago. 

“You were saying, we’ve arrived at Neverwinter?” Taako continues.

Magnus nods slowly, his curious gaze transfixed on the back of Kravitz’s head.

“Good, we’ll give the crew a few days to rest, then set our course for the Whalebones. It’s an island, or something.”

Kravitz approaches the door with the map under one arm, trying his best to avoid eye contact with the first mate. Magnus remains where he is, his wide frame blocking the doorway.

“Magnus,” Taako tries. “He needs to show Avi where the fuck we’re going.”

Magnus huffs out a little laugh and claps a hand on Kravitz’s shoulder. “Alright. Don’t look so spooked, buddy. I know Taako’s a scary one.”

Kravitz tries to laugh, and slips out the doorway as soon as Magnus shifts his weight aside.

His smile fades a little when he turns to look back at Taako, once Kravitz is completely out of earshot. 

“You shouldn’t let him hang around in here so much.”

Taako guffaws and drops dramatically into his desk chair. “I’m captain, I can do what I want. He’s helping decipher all this ancient horse shit.”

“I know, I’m just saying.” Magnus shifts and flexes his shoulders uncomfortably, a habit he’s picked up in place of an awkward cough. “He’ll start getting comfortable. You’re the captain alright - You have to remind them of that. You remember what happened with Sazed after all that time spent in -“

“You don’t need to remind me of Sazed,” Taako interjects sharply, crossing one leg over the other to puncture his statement. “He was a foul cook and a greedy suck up. He had no place on my ship, and you won’t go comparing him to the rest of our crew ever again.”

Magnus nods quickly, dropping the subject. “We’ll be anchoring in a moment. Will you be coming ashore?”

Taako takes a deep breath and eventually relaxes his posture. “Yes, I suppose so.”

—

The crew aboard _The Balance_ is buzzing about their recent ventures, the rumour mill already spinning wildly about their strange stop-offs and now their sudden backtrack to the Sword Coast. Taako appeases them with tales of a treasure trail, vaguely explaining their discovery of some old maps and a series of well hidden treasures. Taako, Merle, Magnus and Kravitz all agree to keep the details of the relics to themselves, at least until they have a full understanding of what they’re dealing with.

When they anchor off the shore of the Whalebones archipelago, the crew eagerly watch as Taako and his close-knit squad lower into a rowboat. Magnus had fed them some information about the archipelago so they wouldn’t start losing trust and making things up, but as far as the crew is concerned, they’re simply digging up gold.

Taako is feeling remarkably confident about the whole ordeal. While Magnus rows them towards shore, he rests one hand on Kravitz’s shoulder, and use the other to inspect his compass. Kravitz leans over to look down at it, but frowns when he finds the needle darting around several directions. He looks up to ask if that’s normal, only to see the smile has completely dropped off Taako’s face.

“What’s the plan then, Big C?” Merle asks, shuffling forward in the boat to where the captain sits. “Kravitz going to stick his hands in the sea again and pulls us out some jewels?”

“Doesn’t work like that,” Kravitz tries to explain, but he’s distracted by the distraught look on Taako’s face.

“We may have to split up,” Taako stammers.

“Alright,” Merle nods. “Where do we start?”

“I - Uh.“ Taako swallows. “I don’t know.”

Magnus stops rowing. “What do you mean? What does the compass say?”

Taako snaps it shut and slips it back into his coat. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll all start on a different island, see what we can turn up. Four of us, four corners; should be a breeze.”

Magnus frowns and reluctantly picks their speed back up. He heads the boat towards a winding path of shallow water, which separates four of the larger islands in the shape of a crooked cross. When the boat collides with the sandy beach of the closest island, Kravitz pulls the hand-drawn map from inside his coat and lays it out on a bench for all of them to see. He points to the middle of the cross to signal where they are, then trails his finger across to which island they’ve landed on.

“There’s not much marked off here, but it’s a good reference point for where we are.” He holds the map flat with both his hands while Taako starts pointing and directing. 

“Merle, you start on this one here. Keep an eye out for a lock box like the one we found in Phandalin, or… I don’t fucking know, something vaguely mystifying. We’ll come back to this point if we need to talk to one another.” 

Merle, despite the little information he’s been given, offers a casual salute in Taako’s direction. They help him out of the boat and watch him wade to shore, before Kravitz has kicked them back off towards the next island. 

“Your turn, Krav,” Taako instructs when they pull in, waving a hand towards the beach. Kravitz leaves the map with Taako and steps out, startling at how easily he sinks into the wet sand. He quickly jogs up onto the dry bank, and by the time he’s looked over his shoulder at the others, Magnus is already rowing them away.

—

The four of them wander their four separate islands for hours without finding anything. At high noon, Taako spots Merle wandering on the shore of his island, and they manage to shout to each, exchanging waves then tired shrugs. Magnus’ island has the same white shore as the others, but there’s larger clusters of plants making it hard for him to explore much of the mainland. Kravitz’s vision starts to blur from exhaustion as he wanders, but eventually he spots something that makes him blink and steady himself to focus.

A few yards ahead of him is a large protrusion of rocks jutting out from the land. The stone is smooth and pale, curving upwards like a ribcage. He hurries over, curious about the one interesting thing he’s found so far. 

When he reaches the base of the rocks, he begins to pace around their perimeter until he notices a tearing of bright red cloth tied around one of the smaller protrusions. Kravitz interprets the fabric as a clue and immediately starts moving around quicker, hands moving across the surface of the rock and feeling for any more discrepancies. 

His excitement gradually begins to fade when, after a few minutes of searching, he realises there’s nothing there. 

With heavy feet, he walks back towards the shore to see if he can catch sight of the others.

When Kravitz arrives at the edge of his island, he walks along the shore until he spies Magnus’ boat hitched on an opposite beach. He begins to wade into the water to cross the shallows between the islands, but freezes in place when he sees Merle running out from the brush of his island, clutching a bright red piece of fabric and waving it above his head.

“Merle!” He shouts between cupped hands, “You found one too?!”

Merle stops running and waves the cloth around, shouting something back which Kravitz struggles to hear. He points behind him, gesturing wildly then pointing at the cloth in his hand. Before Kravitz has a chance to reply, Magnus and Taako approach the beach from their own separate islands, brandishing cloths of their own.

Taako notices their piece in common immediately, and points at Magnus’s boat. They all head towards it, Taako and Kravitz wading through the shallows with the water around their waists, while Merle skirts around the edge of his beach.

When they’re close enough to talk clearly to each other, they immediately start talking all at once. 

Kravitz is still catching his breath while they squabble, describing what they’d found, and sharing their disappointment in nothing but fabric markers. Finally Kravitz pipes up, interrupting and silencing them in the process.

“ _Where_ did everyone find theirs?”

They all exchange looks, then point off in their own directions. Kravitz squints at everyone’s gesture, then wades closer to stand at the centre of their positions. He then turns and looks back at his island, scanning the treetops for the protruding rocks where he’d left his marker behind.

“Right, so, mine was… Over there, somewhere. Maybe if we line it up, we can find…”

He pushes through the gradually deepening water as he talks, eyes locked on the ribcage structure in the distance. Everyone watches him as he tries to line up each of their directions with his own, and just as he opens his mouth to speak again, he sets foot in the centre of the triangulation and his foot steps down on something hard.

 

He freezes in place, and everyone immediately notices him look down at his feet.

“What is it?!” Taako shouts, splashing his way over. Magnus scoops Merle up from his place in the shallows and helps him into the rowboat, then pushes it out with them as they walk into the deeper water between each of their four islands.

“It feels like wood,” Kravitz finally explains, and lifts his other foot to stand on the platform beneath the water.

“Did you find it?!” Taako shouts, stumbling into Kravitz as his foot finds purchase on the firm ground as well. “This has got to be it! It’s buried under the water!” 

Kravitz wastes no time in spreading his hands out and willing the water to part around the edges of the wooden platform, giving them plenty of open space to inspect it in open air. It’s several feet wide and long, the edges covered in gooey white sand. 

As soon as the water is cleared out of the way, Taako drops to his knees and starts feeling around the edge of it for some kind of handle or latch. Magnus is left standing at the edge of the water, carefully holding onto the boat so Merle doesn’t flip off the water wall and onto the hard surface below.

“Magnus, we gotta bust into it. I can’t find a handle or anything, we -“

As soon as Magnus steps onto the platform to help, they feel it shift and drop several inches into the ground. They all startle, freezing in place to hold their balance. 

“Nobody… Move…” Magnus breathes, one hand still holding the edge of the boat to keep it steady behind him.

They remain still for another minute before they begin to relax, and Taako feels confident in slowly rising to his feet. He tries to lift one leg to shift his hips, but there’s a weight creeping over his boot that makes it difficult to move at all.

All four of them look down to see the sand slowly crawling over the now-lowered edge of the wood, gradually covering and encasing it. Taako rips his foot up from underneath the weight of it, and his sudden movement sends the panel dropping another few inches.

The constantly jostling breaks Kravitz’s concentration enough for the cleared water to trickle and splash onto the platform. Magnus panics at the sight of the wood being slowly enshrouded in sand, and gives the row boat a hard shove back to shore. Merle shouts disapprovingly as he floats away from them, watching uselessly as Magnus rushes in.

He dives into the centre of the panel, the force of his weight sending it buckling a foot deeper. The sand comes spilling completely onto it now, and although Kravitz tries to will it back, there’s something substantially heavy about it that he can’t command out of their way.

“What the fuck is going on? Why is it so heavy?” Taako gasps, struggling to lift his feet from where they’re once again encased in the thick, oozing earth.

With a ferocity that seems to come out of nowhere, Magnus hooks his fingers around the end of one of the wooden planks and rips it straight off the platform. With new purchase, he begins tearing into the rest of the planks with his bare hands, until he’s made a substantial hole to see into. Below the platform is a dugout hole, now rapidly filling with water and sand, and a lone lockbox similar to that which they discovered in Phandalin. 

While Magnus tears into the platform, Kravitz’s eyes have fallen on Taako, where the captain struggles to fight against the sand that pulls his weight against him. Kravitz quickly realises that the sand is only thicker and firmer without any water surrounding it.

“Take a deep breath,” he instructs hastily. Taako turns and looks at him just in time to see Kravitz relax his hands and let the water crash back over the top of them.

They’re all knocked left then right by the sheer force of the water colliding with them. Taako did _not_ take a deep breath. Magnus grabs a hold of the edge of the hole he’s made, using it to pull himself back towards it. He glances over his shoulder at Taako to see Kravitz digging into the loosening sand around Taako’s ankles - and only after seeing Taako kick up and safely breach the water’s surface does he reach down and snatch one of the handles of the box. It takes some strength to pull it out from where the sand had begun to bury it, but with the water cancelling out some of the weight it makes the task a lot easier than he expected.

As they return to the rowboat, panting and treading water to avoid touching the sinking sand beneath them, Merle leans against the edge with his arms crossed angrily over his chest.

“I’m sorry,” Kravitz breathes, “I didn’t -“

“You always leave me out of the fun, just because I’m _short_ ,” Merle interrupts, earning an exhausted laugh from Magnus.

“You can row back if you’d like,” he offers, which quickly shuts Merle up and has him sitting back on his bench.

They toss the lockbox into the bottom of the boat, hoist themselves up, and make their way back to the ship. Taako leans down at cracks open the locks when they’re still a few dozen yards away from _The Balance_ , while they’re safe from the prying eyes of the crew.

“Well aint that a sight for sore eyes,” comments Merle as he leans in to get a view of the loot. The box is filled with gold and silver pieces, as well as a few stray parchment pieces and loose, choppily cut gems. Taako shifts past all of the gold, digging his hands in to see if he can feel anything bigger or more intricate that simple coinage. 

As he leans forward over the box, the Oculus lens falls heavily from the chain around his neck and lands at the top-left corner of the box. He looks down at it curiously, then carefully picks it back up and dives his hand into the gold underneath it. Surely enough, his fingers wrap around something different; something soft, but firm, like worn leather.

When they crack open the lockbox to show off to the crew aboard _The Balance_ , everyone cheers for their discovery, not realising that an important piece has been removed and slipped into the inside pocket of Taako’s coat.

—

The four relic hunters sit huddled around Taako’s table inside the captain’s cabin, each clutching a cup of wine and sharing from a bottle in the centre of the table. Laid out for them all to see is the Oculus, the gauntlet, and a sash bound of leather and hemp.

Kravitz is standing at Taako’s desk where the remains of the two lockboxes sit, rifling through the newest one to gather all the new pieces of parchment from it. While Taako, Magnus and Merle study the maps and drawings they’ve already seen from the Phandalin box, Kravitz discovers a new drawing amidst all of their newfound gold.

It’s another torn piece of parchment with several drawings interrupted at the edges. He can’t make out much of anything, except for a small illustration of a stone in the bottom corner. It’s jagged, yet satisfyingly balanced, and drawn to scale at the size of a fist. Even in grey pencil scratchings he can feel the bright shine and the richness of its auburn colour emanating off the page. The sight of it, even as a drawing on old, soggy paper, sends a sharp pain through Kravitz’s shoulders. 

He reaches up to anxiously fiddle with his amulet, but his fingers ghost through the air and the events of their Phandalin escape flash back to him.

He lowers his hand and turns to face his crew mates, holding out the drawing of the Philosopher’s Stone for them to see.

“I know what the next relic is, and I know where to find it.”

— 

Miles away from _The Balance_ and its crew within, rocks crumble from the ceiling of a crystallised cavern and scatter to the ocean floor. A creature stirs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nah, sazed isn't getting much screen time. he was just a shitty former crew member who tried to buddy up with taako for special privileges, and i won't be mentioning him much more in the rest of the fic.
> 
> thank you again for all your comments and kind words! seeing new hits and how much y'all are enjoying it is really driving me to finish as soon as i can <3
> 
> this is the first time i've ever drawn magnus or merle oh my god. big shoutout to @immortanjill on twitter for their awesome merle design. i didn't do it justice but it really helped to reference it when i was completely lost on what lil merle should look like.


	4. iv - The Stone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kravitz is all too familiar with the next relic they need to find. He guides them towards its resting place, and the crew plunges into the ocean where they find a cavern of crystal. But more than just stones are waiting for them in the shimmering depths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls, pls don't bring up the whole water pressure thing. i know. it's so tight down there. kravitz is magic.

Taako carefully eases the door of his cabin open, walking out onto the deck of _The Balance_ in an effort to make as little noise as possible. He’s immediately hit with a gust of icy wind, throwing him off balance and blowing his tangled white hair into his face. When he rights himself and pulls his hair back into a messily tied ponytail, he finds the sky above is dark and grey, rumbling with the threat of a distant storm.

There’s little to no one on the deck at this hour. Lucas, a small and particularly annoying navigator-in-training is hiked up in the crow’s nest, keeping an eye on the horizon. He walks up the steps to the quarterdeck to find Avi at the wheel, leaning his whole weight upon it and struggling to keep his eyes open. He’s passing a bottle of brandy to Magnus and back, while Magnus paces restlessly around the wheel. It takes Taako a moment to find where Merle is sitting at the back of the quarterdeck, snoring loudly with his chin in his hands.

“Where is he?” Taako asks as he approaches the wheel.

“Down at the bow,” mumbles Avi tiredly, with a vague gesture towards the front of the ship. Taako turns around to look, squinting in the darkness, until he can make out the shape of Kravitz leaning up against the front banister.

Considering the size of _The Balance_ , it takes a moment for Taako to make his way over to him. Kravitz doesn’t acknowledge his presence when he takes up the spot next to him, mimicking his movements to rest his elbows against the banister. 

When the wind and sea air blowing past them begins to sting his eyes, he opts to look at Kravitz, admiring the concentration on his face. He’s rigidly still, and if it weren’t for the subtle rise and fall of his chest, Taako would assume him a statue.

Kravitz speaks suddenly, louder than Taako was expecting. “We’re here,” he says, and turns to look back at Avi.

Taako frowns, but still raises a hand to motion for the navigator’s attention. Magnus begins to step down from the quarterdeck and approach them, with a stumbling, exhausted Merle behind him.

“Not to sound daft or anything, but I thought you said we were heading for a cave?” Taako tries, then makes a point of looking around at the endless ocean on all sides of them. 

“We are. We’re above it,” Kravitz says shortly, and begins to shed his coat.

“Hey now,” Magnus calls as he arrives within earshot. “Where’s this cave we’re looking for?”

“We’re above it,” Taako parrots, hand on his hip as he cocks his head towards Kravitz. “I’m getting kind of tired of these underwater escapades. Can’t we find a nice beach somewhere and _not_ drown in it?”

“I’ve got this one,” Kravitz says assuredly. Everyone’s eyes lock onto him.

“Whoa now, big guy,” Magnus hums, holding his hands up. Kravitz pays him no mind and reaches for the front anchor, opening his hands to wrap his arms around it and heave it off its hook. 

“ _Whoa now_ ,” Magnus says again, sterner this time, and scoops Kravitz into his grasp, holding tightly to his forearms to stop him moving.

Taako squints at him and steps a little closer, studying Kravitz’s blank face.

“You been here before?” he questions, with a glance at the water beside them.

Kravitz nods. “Once.”

“And you found the stone.”

Kravitz averts his gaze. “You could say it found me.”

“Alright,” Taako claps his hands together and wipes them of invisible dust. “We’re a pirate _crew_ here, not a pirate _solo mission_. Boys, get those leg muscles stretched because it looks like we’re going diving again.”

Magnus reluctantly loosens his grip on Kravitz’s arms and they separate. 

“I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet about this,” he murmurs, still unable to maintain eye contact with any of them. “The stone took away something very dear to me. I’ve been hoping this could be a quick in-and-out job so I don’t have to think about this place much longer.”

Taako drops his coat in a crumpled heap on the deck, his hat landing neatly on top of it. When he’s free of baggage, he sways a hip closer to Kravitz and motions for Merle to grab the anchor.

“We’ll be back before you know it. What’s the plan for the way down?” One of his hands wraps loosely around Kravitz’s upper arm, squeezing gently in a gesture that’s - Kravitz isn’t sure if it’s supposed to be flirtatious or reassuring. He opts to assume the latter and smiles weakly in response.

“We’ll ride the anchor; it’ll be a lot faster, and we’re going much deeper than Phandalin.” Magnus freezes in place with the anchor half held over the edge of the ship. He pulls it back on board, grinning sheepishly. He gathers now is not the time to rush in.

“But I won’t be able to keep an air bubble following such a fast moving target. I’ll see what I can do about giving you all your own supply of air.”

“Alright, sounds good to me,” Merle interjects. He claps his hands together and pushes them forward in a diving motion, adding, “Can we hurry on up and get in there? I need that cold water to do something to wake me up.”

Taako snorts and finally releases Kravitz’s arm. They gather around Magnus with the anchor, sitting themselves up on the edge of the banister and prepare themselves to drop down. Kravitz exchanges one last look with them all.

“Are you sure you want to come for this one? I’m sure I can -“

Taako shuts him up with a gentle clap to his cheek. “Ease it, handsome. Remember how dangerous our last few ventures have been? Besides, can’t have you running off on us after you snatch up that stone.”

Kravitz looks at Taako, shocked, but Taako has already turned his head back to look down at the water’s surface. 

“I would never…”

“Three two one, go!” Taako shouts suddenly, and Kravitz hears all three of them inhale a deep breath. They each wrap a hand around the stem of the anchor, just as Magnus gives it a firm shove, and together they go flying off the edge of the ship and into the icy waters below.

They slow significantly when they hit the water, but the anchor still drags them downwards with great force. Taako, Merle and Magnus each have their cheeks puffed, eyes squeezed shut, until their lungs finally run out of air about ten yards deep. Magnus is the first to open his mouth and gasp inwards, startled when he breathes in air instead of filling his lungs with water.

Taako opens his eyes when he hears it, looking at Magnus and spotting the huge air bubble attached to the front of his face. He realises they each have one of their own, and he relaxes instantly with a deep breath of surprisingly fresh air. It doesn’t stale or heat up when he exhales, and he silently thanks whichever God can hear him that his new crew mate is so magically adept. 

The descent into the rapidly blackening depths is all too familiar for the mortal pirates. They instinctively shut their eyes and squeeze their hands around the anchor a little tighter, while Kravitz kicks his feet and forces a current from above them to hasten their descent.

Despite the cave being much further down than their previous venture to the lost city of Phandalin, their gaining speed has them arriving fairly quickly. Taako startles when the anchor comes to a sudden halt, and the four of them lose their grip and tumble forth onto the seabed. 

They all reach blindly for the anchor again, shaking hands grabbing iron and rope. Taako reaches a hand out to find Kravitz’s shoulder and squeeze it gently, searching for a shadow of his face in the dark waters. He opens his mouth to speak, but the sound comes out damp and muffled to everyone’s ears.

Despite the dark, Kravitz can see clearly. He can see the outline of the cavernous structure ahead of them, and he’s itching to dive forward into it. But he can also see the uncertainty on Taako’s face, a fear in his eyes he doesn’t realise he’s showing. So Kravitz pulls him closer in response, squeezes his eyes shut, and when he opens them - 

Taako gasps, reeling back at the sudden white light glowing from Kravitz’s eyes. Magnus and Merle turn to find the source of it, frozen in place for a moment as they adjust to the light and attempt to comprehend their surroundings.

The seabed below them is hard and craggy, but reflects their new light source in twinkling rays. Merle pulls himself down the length of the anchor to get closer to the ground, rubbing his thumb against the cool surface to see if he recognises the material, but all he can muster is a confused shrug at his crew mates.

Feeling more confident now that they can see a few feet in front of them, Kravitz leads the way and swims on towards the looming cave in front of them. Taako takes a gentle hold of his belt, Magnus hooking a hand around Taako’s, and Merle’s around the tie of Magnus’ sash, the four of them all swimming in a single line.

As the light from Kravitz’s eyes hits the outside wall of the cave, they realise it’s made of a similarly jagged and reflective surface as the sea floor. Kravitz continues on until he’s close enough to touch the wall, and the others follow suit. In the close light, the rock looks more like crystal; sleek and bright, and practically pearlescent. The pirates are momentarily mesmerised by it, until Kravitz is turning to them with a frown.

“I don’t know how to get inside. We need to look for a breach,” he explains, voice ringing out low and smooth through the water.

Using the side of the cave wall for purchase, they swim around the edge of the dome-like structure to search for any kind of crack or breach in the wall. There’s a stillness about the area that keeps all of their mouths shut, afraid to make a noise, even though they can hardly hear a thing. A fear of alerting something of their presence; an attempt to keep the feeling of being followed at bay.

As they turn around a sharp edge of the dome, Kravitz stops suddenly and bumps backwards into Magnus. He points down at the base of the cave wall, looking towards his finger to light up the small hole he’s found. It’s hardly two feet wide, but if they’re careful, they might be able to squeeze through.

Taako, knowing he’s the most lithe of them all, hoists himself up over Magnus’s shoulder and swims towards Kravitz and the crawlspace. He hooks his fingers around the edge of it to steady himself, and looks up at his companions nervously. His mouth opens and more muffled words spill out. Kravitz grazes his hand upon Taako’s shoulder.

“Just wait inside, we’ll be right there,” he instructs, the clear cutting sound of his voice soothing Taako somewhat, grounding him to reality. He nods, then plunges himself into the hole before he has a chance to change his mind. He fits with relative ease, disappearing into the cave.

Kravitz looks over at Merle next, nodding towards the hole. Merle hesitates a little more than Taako did, eventually pointing a finger hard into Kravitz chest then gesturing at the hole. Merle then points at the cave itself, and Kravitz sees him mouth Taako’s name.

He nods in understanding and pulls himself down towards the entrance. He looks back at Merle and Magnus for their nod of approval before he leans inside, shimming and twisting his broad shoulders to fit through. The rocky edge tears at his shirt and digs into his skin, but he eventually emerges on the other side of the cave wall. His first instinct is to look around for Taako when he realises the elf is missing from the entrance way.

He turns his attention to the cavernous room they’ve swum into, with a dome shaped ceiling, every surface made of shimmering crystals. Blunt stalactites protrude from all over the cave above him, their soft twinkling ringing in his ears. He looks past the delicate structures to where he can see the figure of a person standing upright just ahead of him.

“Taako?” He calls softly, although his voice echoes tenfold in their new surroundings.

The figure turns around to look at him, and approaches without hesitation. As he does so, his body lowers and he begins to swim again, until he’s close enough to Kravitz for his eyes to light up his face.

“Thank god, I thought I’d already lost you,” Kravitz mutters, and the elf smiles.

_Come with me_ , he mouths into his air bubble, and pulls Kravitz by the wrist, back the way he came.

They’re only swimming for a moment before Taako’s feet are kicking at the ground, and they push up to break the surface of the water. Kravitz looks around incredulously at the air lock they’ve found themself in. Taako simply looks relieved to have his head and chest above water.

“There’s a pathway up ahead, but rushing in isn’t really my style,” Taako grins, and bumps his hip against Kravitz’s under the water. 

Kravitz finds himself smiling at the notion of exploring such a beautiful place with such a fearsome crew. He ducks back into the water, only for a moment, so he can call out to the others and let the ocean carry his voice.

“I’ve found him. Come on through, and knock if you get stuck.”

Kravitz stands back upright, and turns to face his captain. He’s not expecting Taako to be standing so close, and notices he’s still slightly shivering - from the cold, excitement, or fear of the unknown, he isn’t sure. But he runs his hands up and down Taako’s upper arms in the best soothing motion he can manage.

Taako smiles at him and slowly lifts his arms to drape them around Kravitz’s shoulders. Kravitz blinks slowly, the light in his eyes fading to something easier to look at.

“You take us to the coolest places,” Taako hums, somewhat dreamily as his head tilts to one side. Kravitz notices that lowered gaze of his again, and sheepishly looks over his shoulder to check if they’re still alone. When he finds Magnus and Merle have yet to arrive, he lets his hand settle either side of Taako’s waist.

Outside, Magnus is babbling into his bubble, hands clutching his head as he watches Merle wiggling fruitlessly into the crawlspace. He gives him a shove, then another, only stopping when he hears a dull shout from Merle’s head on the other side of the wall. Magnus grumbles indignantly and waits for a sign that he’s okay.

Eventually, after more shifting and twisting, Merle manages to wriggle through. He turns around immediately, looking at Magnus through the hole.

_Your turn_ , he mouths, and Magnus thinks he may even be shouting so he can hear the muffled words through their bubbles.

_I’m huge!_ Magnus responds, with both hands clutching the edge of the entryway. _I’m like three wider than this!_

Merle rolls his eyes, then lets go of where he’s holding onto the wall. He bawls one hand into a fist, then pounds it into his other palm.

Magnus takes a deep breath and leans back to examine the hole. He notices a little crevice on the left side of the gap, and a small crack splitting off it. Foolhardily, he grabs a hold of it with both hands, and gives it a sharp tug. It crackles at first, but takes a much heartier pull before a huge chunk of crystal breaks free from the wall. The hole is at least a foot wider now, but he’s made more cracks and thinks he can bust it open even more.

Merle treads backwards into the cave to get out of his way, and Magnus gets to work. Using both hands, he grabs and pulls at the edges of the hole, flinging the crystallised rock into the deep behind him. Each broken piece expands the entry inch by inch, but still not quite enough for him to slip through unscathed. Finally, he grabs both hands under the top of the entryway, shoves a boot against the wall, and heaves back with all his might.

He definitely pulls _something_ out. A huge, three foot long wedge of crystal separates from the wall, and Magnus’ pull eventually slides it out of place. As soon as the piece comes completely separate from the cavern, the rest of the crystal structure begins to groan and ring out through the water.

From inside the cave, Kravitz and Taako are shaken from their hold when the room around them begins to shake. The stalactites on the ceiling rattle and shimmy, the gentle twinkling of crystal turning to a deafening ringing in their ears. He shoves Taako out of his grasp towards the pathway to the next room, and the captain dives for it without hesitation. Kravitz turns to where they’d entered and reaches both hands out in front of him, just as shards of rock begin to loosen and crash down from the ceiling.

He brings his hands quickly into his chest, sweeping Magnus and Merle forward in a current that pulls them up to his feet. He allows himself to be caught up in the current, and the three of them flow into the next room, tumbling into Taako on their way.

“What did you -?!” Kravitz shouts as he tries to gain his footing, but is interrupted by a loud splash as a heftier section of the ceiling crumbles into the room they just exited. After that, the ringing begins to fade back to a twinkle, as smaller pebbles continue to drop and dunk into the water behind them. 

The four of them stand their ground in the waist-high water, catching their breath and willing their adrenaline to calm. The cave around them seems mostly in tact.

“Magnus,” Kravitz starts again, voice stern and eyes wide.

Magnus opens his mouth to retort - But a crystal shard from the ceiling crashes down without warning, piercing the ground in front of him; the shock of it startles all of the air right out of him.

The ground shakes, and they all shift to one side, like the world has fallen on an angle

“Oh god, let it be over,” Taako whispers, hands bawled into tight fists at his sides as he stares up at the ceiling. He turns to Kravitz in hope of support, but his nerves are the opposite of calmed when he sees Kravitz looking just as horrified.

The room shifts again, and the pathway they just came through caves in completely. Dust of sharp crystallised particles drifts through the water from the last fallen rock, but none of them feel relaxed after it settles. They wait, tense and shaking, until the room shifts back in place, and a low grumble erupts from a distance depth.

“I take back everything about this place being cool,” Taako gasps, and spins on his heel to continue on through the cavern. “I’m not spending a minute longer than I have to in here!”

Magnus tugs Merle up onto his shoulders so he doesn’t have to swim, and together they run (to the best of his ability in waist-deep water) after their captain. Kravitz stays put just for a moment, looking back at their sealed up exit, then around at the cavern they’re about to delve into. It appears mostly stable, but his legs shake as he wades across firm ground, expecting it to pull up under his feet at any moment.

—

They wander through the twisting caverns and hallways for what feels like an eternity. Taako always stays at the head of the pack, desperation for his treasure driving him through every room. He pushes through the full-body shivers brought on by his wet chill, the cuts and grazes he gathers around his ankles, and the sting of salt water in his eyes, hardly looking back at his crew or offering much of conversation.

Some of the rooms dip down low and the floor beneath them curves into vicious slopes. Sometimes they’re diving down into a room completely devoid of air, sometimes their boots are tapping across an expanse of completely dry ground. In a particularly spacious cavern with several pathways protruding from it, they even find a school of light fish like the ones Kravitz had summoned for them in Phandalin. But mostly, every room is the same craggy rock and crystal; nothing to see or explore but planes of pearlescent surfaces.

The entire journey through the winding maze has Kravitz on edge, and he waits to find something he recognises. Magnus and Merle chatter quietly amongst themselves, leaving pauses in the conversation for Taako to join, but moving right along when their captain continues his silence. Kravitz is grateful that they pay him no mind as he trails along behind, fingers brushing the surface of the walls and keening his senses for something familiar.

“Maybe we should rest,” Magnus suggests, after they’ve climbed upon a mound of rock in the centre of the wide open room. “We’ve been wandering a while now…”

“And we’ll only be wandering longer if we wait,” Taako responds immediately, and leans down to ease himself off the platform and back into the water. “You can hang out if you want to, I’m gonna keep on going.”

“Please reconsider that,” Kravitz interjects, grabbing Taako’s arm to hold him back. Taako snatches his arm away immediately, but he does them the favour of standing still at the edge of the rock. “It would be so easy to lose you in here. What would the crew do if we lost our captain?”

Taako sighs heavily and rolls his eyes. He looks at Magnus, studying his obvious exhaustion, and reluctantly nods. He lowers himself to sit cross legged on the floor.

“Fine. Five minutes.”

Magnus follows suit, and Merle hops off his shoulders when he’s close enough to the ground. He immediately turns to the first mate and places his hands against his back, emitting a soft holy light from his palm. Magnus’ eyes close and he hums softly as Merle tends to the stressed muscles of his shoulders.

“How are you holding up?” Merle asks, with a look down at Taako’s legs. A few of the grazes have a few spots of bright red blood beading at the wounds, but Taako doesn’t respond. His eyes are closed and his back is straight, hands resting on his knees as he tries his best to zone out and get his zen on.

Kravitz stays standing and tries to map out the room around them. A few of the light fish have swum curiously to the surface, lighting up small sections of the room, but there’s nothing very interesting of note - aside from the usual twisted structures of crystal jutting from every other direction. He watches Merle make his way over to Taako and wrap those hands around his ankles, without moving Taako from his self induced trance. The wounds begin to close up under his fingers, and he gives the specks of blood a wipe off before pulling his hands away.

What feels like too soon, Taako’s eyes slowly open and he raises to his feet.

“Alright, that’s five minutes, let’s get this show on the road.”

Magnus releases a low, heavy breath. “Please, just a little longer.”

“This is why I didn’t want to stop,” Taako whines. “It reminds everyone how tired we are and makes it harder to keep going. I don’t know _how_ close we are to finding this damn stone, and it could be _hours_ before -“

Kravitz has a hesitant hand pressed against Taako’s shoulder, and Taako looks at him venomously for interrupting.

“ _Please don’t start shouting_ -“ Kravitz asks, voice so small, face wincing apologetically. “I just - I don’t know what caused that quake before, I don’t know what could set it off.”

Taako opens his mouth to argue, but knows Kravitz has a better point. He brushes his hand away and drops back down to the edge of their crystal platform so he can lower himself back into the water.

“Well, I stopped for you this time, so if you don’t want me to get lost, you’re going to have to follow me,” he bargains, fighting the little smirk that’s dying to spread across his face. Magnus reluctantly stands, rolling his shoulders then offering Merle a hand up.

Taako slides off the edge of the platform and lets himself fall into the water, completely submerging himself for a moment. The water feels freezing again after spending such a short time out of it, and his whole body shakes as he fights to get himself accustomed to it. He dives down deeper, instinctively holding his breath despite the air bubble clinging to his face, and makes a challenge out of touching his hands to the floor at the bottom of the room. The crystallised platform they came to rest on reaches all the way to the floor, like a giant pillar reaching up to the surface of the water. His fingers trail across its remarkably surface as he swims downwards, then turns in the water to settle his feet on the floor. 

He looks up to the surface of the water and the light of Kravitz’s eyes above it. He can feel Kravitz watching him from above, tracking his movement to give Magnus as much time to rest as he can before they need to bother jumping in after their captain. Taako sighs into his bubble and closes his eyes to ease them of the salt water sting, dropping his forehead tiredly against the wall of the craggy pillar. His bitterness only comes from exhaustion, adrenaline and confusion - He makes a mental note to thank Kravitz properly for his help and care once they’re back on the deck of _The Balance_.

Taako keeps his forehead touching the side of the pillar as he slowly opens his eyes. The light from Kravitz’s eyes is still blinding even so far beneath the surface - Although. He squints, and leans back. It feels as if the light is right in front of him. He looks over his shoulder, searching for a school of light fish that may be fooling his peripheral vision, but he can only spot their glow in the far distance, on opposite ends of the room. 

He gives a hard kick off the floor and swims back up to the surface, grabbing at the edge of the platform but not quite pulling himself out.

“Kravitz, turn your… eyes… off?” he pants. Kravitz can’t decipher the look of curiosity, confusion or determination on his face, but does as he’s told. He blinks once, and when his eyes reopen, they’re back to their usual non-luminescent state.

But a light still burns in the room.

“What the hell is that?” Magnus asks, from where he’s sat back down in the middle of their platform. “That’s not a bunch of our fishy friends, surely?”

Kravitz looks around the room to try and find the light source. Despite it only being a slight glow, it feels overpowering - like it’s coming from every direction, but he can’t find a particular source. When he looks down at Taako questioningly, all he finds is Taako with his eyes glued to the centre of the platform, right underneath Magnus.

“It’s inside,” Taako pants, as he struggles to pull himself out of the water and back onto the crystal formation. “This thing - it goes all the way down to the ground. There’s something inside it.”

Kravitz feels his hands shake at his sides. Without warning or explanation, he dives into the water where Taako just emerged, and strokes a few yards away. He kicks himself off the wall to dive deep under the surface, then twists under the water to look back at their platform.

This view, from under the water, floating between the ceiling and the floor. He recognises it. He recognises this pillar, protruding from the centre of the room in a shaft of smooth white crystal, unlike the rest of the craggy rock surfaces throughout this crystal maze. He gasps in a mouthful of water and his hands flex, snatching at where his amulet used to sit. His chest burns. He kicks himself back up to the surface.

“Kravitz!” Taako is calling his name from the platform, sitting on all fours and leaning over the edge of it to try and see where he’d dived off to. “What the hell is wrong, my man?”

“It’s in the - The stone! It’s in the pillar!” Kravitz is pointing a finger at the platform they’re sitting on.

Magnus rises to his feet, much quicker than before. “Then we’re busting it open, right?” He asks, already tense and ready to start fucking up some rocks.

“Well yeah!” Taako eggs him on, and jumps to his feet as well.

“We can’t just - Look what happened to our exit!” Kravitz tries to reason with them as he swims back over. “Besides, what are you going to use? The stone is at the bottom, well under the surface of the water. I don’t know how we could bust it open.”

That’s the only thing stopping Magnus from having already ripped the crystal apart. His fists are bared, ready in action, but their lack of resources have him fizzling out quickly.

“Can we use another shard of something? There’s stalactites - or are they stalagmites? - All over this place. Maybe they’ll do some damage,” Taako suggests, then looks down at Merle as an afterthought. “Unless hippy wizard has some shatter spells up his sleeve.”

Merle looks up at him through a disappointed frown. “These hands only fix, he’s the one who breaks,” and jabs his thumb in Magnus’ direction.

“I’m gonna start busting rocks,” Magnus announces, and cannonballs into the water before Kravitz has a chance to stop him.

Taako gives Kravitz a _look_ , then jumps in to join his first mate. Kravitz reluctantly follows, and Merle dives in alongside him. They swim down as fast as they can, where they find Magnus pulling at a shard of stalagmite jutting up from the floor. Taako is mostly just floating, but he’s looking around the room to see if there’s nothing else they can break off.

Kravitz’s attention is caught when Taako cocks his head aside and swims around a corner, disappearing from sight. He instinctively kicks off to follow him, needing to know that _someone_ is looking out for his safety, and half caught up in curiosity. 

He doesn’t expect to find Taako floating still in the water, hands pulled back to his chest like he’s just found something gross or dead.

He doesn’t expect to follow Taako’s eye line and actually find something gross and dead.

Taako murmurs something into his bubble, but Kravitz isn’t looking to see the shape of the words in his mouth. He’s transfixed on the sight of a coiled up tentacle, jutting out from a crack in the floor. It’s impossibly long and at least four feet in diameter, but the way it disappears into the earth suggest there’s more of the creature hidden from view.

Kravitz’s hands tense, his fingers twitch.

He can feel Taako looking at him, can hear muffled words from beside him. A hand reaches out to try and grab his attention, but they hear a dull crash coming from behind them, and both spin around to see Magnus holding a crystal spear in one hand. The rest of the stalagmite just happens to have dislodged and toppled over onto the floor underneath him, sending a gentle wave throughout the room.

The tentacle twitches, and begins to retract.

Kravitz spins back around in time to see half of the tentacle disappearing into the hole in which they found it. His mouth hangs open and his eyes blow wide, and suddenly Taako is grabbing his arm with his full strength.

_What the fuck!_ He can hear Taako’s muffled shout beside him, a shake in his voice

“She’s alive,” Kravitz gasps, voice reverberating through the water.

Magnus swims over, pulling Taako off him and looking between the two of them. “What did you…?” He starts to ask, but Kravitz is still staring at the hole where the tentacle once lay. He grabs Kravitz shoulder and spins him roughly so he’s looking Magnus in the eye. “ _What did -_ ”

“ _She’s alive!_ ” Kravitz repeats, this time allowing a full beam to spread across his face, his hands balled into fists in the front of Magnus’ singlet. He looks about ready to cry, which alone is enough to make the pirates uncomfortable, having never seen such a reaction come out of Kravitz before.

As if on cue, the section of jagged rocks behind them begins to rumble, and shards of crystal burst outward as a huge black tentacle thrusts through the crystal wall. Taako, Magnus and Merle immediately shout-slash-scream. Taako and Merle retract, and Magnus bears his new weapon.

“Wake up, come to me,” Kravitz practically sings, and reaches a hand across to still Magnus’ weapon. The wall continues crumbling forth, more tentacles prying into the room and tearing the structure apart. Every time a rock goes flying, the pirates flinch and prepare to duck, but after a moment of experiencing the chaos under the water, they realise that none of the tentacles, nor the rocks, are aimed at them. They’re completely unscathed by the time the wall and floor has been broken through, enough for the humungous beast to break out from its crystal prison.

Taako, Magnus nor Merle have ever seen a Kraken before. They’ve heard the tales; a beast of the deep, an octopus the size of a continent, praying on ships at sea. They’ve heard of rough skin, bulging eyes and barbed tentacles, and they’ve heard of an untameable evil.

But the creature before them is elegant, almost. Its tentacles are black, but there are vivid purple tendrils extending from beneath its head - rather than an octopus, it almost resembles something of a jellyfish. The skin of its head is colourful and luminescent, and staring it dead in the face feels like stargazing on an impossibly clear night.

And there’s Kravitz- floating in front of them, in front of it, arms outstretched, body relaxed, shaking from the adrenaline of discovering - rediscovering? - this creature. Even as its tentacles and tendrils continues to swipe at every protrusion of the room, like it’s attacking the very crystal around them, with no concern for harming them.

Suddenly, Kravitz has spun around to face them again, grabbed them all in a heap, and is kicking them back up to the surface of the room. As they ascend, a huge tentacle swipes across where they had been floating, and cracks into the side of the pillar in the centre of the room. It buckles instantly, the structure crumbling where it had been hit, and the top half falls through the water to crash into the floor below them.

Taako immediately dives back down, squirming free of Kravitz’s worried grasp. He kicks as hard as he can, bee-lining for the break in the pillar, where he can see a softly glowing stone in the centre of the carnage. Tendrils swirl and flutter in the water around him, grasping at stalagmites and surfaces and pulling the place apart, but he continues down. His hand snatches up the Philosopher’s stone from the pillar just as a massive tentacle swipes at him from below, winding him with the blow and dragging him upwards. 

The speed makes it hard for him to keep his eyes open in the water, but he looks up as the head of the beast jams into the ceiling of the cavern, bursting it open and filling it with a flood of ocean water from above. The kraken continues upwards, stilling only for a moment to flurry its tentacles, then pushes itself forth to skyrocket towards the surface of the ocean. Taako squeezes his eyes shut wraps one hand around the tentacle holding him in place, the other clutching the Philosopher’s stone close to his chest.

The kraken slows its ascent when they get closer to breaching the surface, and instead of rising itself out, it lifts several of its tentacles. Taako feels the sudden chill of the open ocean air, and opens his eyes to find Merle, Magnus and Kravitz have all been lifted as well. They’re raised just above the water before the tentacles release their grip and the pirates fall back into the ocean, where they tread water right beside their ship.

Magnus and Merle are hooting and hollering with their hands splashing and thrusting into the air, adrenaline coursing through their veins. Taako’s focus is keeping the stone firm in his grasp, and Kravitz is silent in disbelief. They swim around until they find the rope of the anchor, taking turns to climb up to the deck, and immediately drop down to lay on their backs when they hit the smooth surface of _The Balance_ ’s deck.

The pirates loudly catch their breath where they lay, their eyes tiredly glazing over as they stare up into the dark, overcast sky above them. Kravitz’s attention is only distracted by a splash beside their boat, and he eventually leaves his place next to his crew mates to stand and trudge his way over to the banister. A single tendril is still lifted above the water, curling and swaying in the air for Kravitz to see.

He leans over as far as he can, reaching a hand towards it. The tendril continues to sway of its own volition, but drapes towards the boat so he can brush his hand against it before it finally sinks back down into the sea. Looking down after it, he can see the luminescent glow of the creatures head right beneath the water. He watches it as it descends, the light slowly fading until it disappears into the nothingness.

When he turns back around, the three pirates have all sat upright, looking at him expectantly.

“I guess I should explain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> evard what have you done
> 
> i've never drawn a jellyfish before, let alone a jellyfish-octopus-kraken monster. i hope mum is proud.


	5. - Interlude -

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus interrogates Kravitz to find out more about the Kraken. The Balance sets course for Calimport. Taako and Kravitz finally bone down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just tying up a couple loose ends before we dive into the chalice arc. also porn but no pictures, please let me live

Despite their exhausted state, the pirates can’t wait until morning to clamber Kravitz into the captain’s cabin and interrogate him about what they met at the bottom of the crystal cavern. He’s shoved into the same chair they sat him in when they first pulled him aboard _The Balance_ , and he feels just as estranged from the crew as he did on that first day. 

“I’m getting a little tired of you running around with these _I don’t remember_ and _I don’t know_ answers,” Magnus growls at him, leaning far too close with one hand clasped on the back of his chair and the other holding too tightly to Kravitz’s shoulder.

Kravitz hates that he winces when Magnus yells at him. He knows he has more power in his little finger than the beast of a man in front of him, but he doesn’t _want_ to hurt these people. He wants them to trust him, and he wants them to know he’s one of them.

“I’m _sorry_ ,” Kravitz tries, his voice coming out much quieter than he’d expected. “The Kraken is... It's always been a part of me, I’ve always known it’s there - Maybe it’s the reason I exist, or maybe this is all just a huge coincidence. But we’re soul bound and I know it would never hurt anyone I trust.”

While Magnus remains all up in his space, Merle sighs quietly to himself and begins topping up their cups of wine. Kravitz counts four mugs and releases a heavy, relieved breath.

“He’s telling the truth, Magnus,” Merle says, and shoves one of the cups in Magnus’ direction. “You know I’ve got a knack for these things - I can tell. He doesn’t know any more than he’s letting on.”

He then turns to look at Kravitz, hope and trust in his eyes. “What reason would he have to lie about it, anyway?”

Kravitz nods quickly in agreement, then looks up to see how Magnus reacts to this. The first mate stands tall and snatches the wine, grumbling incoherently into it as he takes a sip. His frustration is still evident, but he’s not as hard pressed on squeezing some non existent truth out of the man sitting below him.

“I’m going to be real here,” pipes up Taako from the back of the room. The three of them look over at the captain sitting on the edge of his bed, not making eye contact with them while he struggles to pull a hairbrush through his tangled locks. “The only thing I care about is whether that _thing_ is going to be any trouble to us.”

Magnus and Merle look back at Kravitz expectantly. Eventually, Taako turns his head to look as well, awaiting some kind of answer.

Kravitz licks his lips and thinks on that, trying to perceive every possible scenario in which the kraken could hurt them, and whether it ever would - Eventually, he shakes his head, and offers the most truthful statement he can think of.

“It’s on your side... as long as you’re on _mine_.”

Everyone falls silent for a moment. Eventually, Magnus sets his mug down and announces he’s going to sleep. Kravitz feels a wave of relief wash over him as he watches the first mate file out of the room, then as Merle gives Taako a slight wave and follows suit. Kravitz hesitates to stand, his legs still a little worn from their adventure on the seabed, but eventually he makes his way to the door leading out onto the deck.

He turns back to Taako and watches the captain tug the brush through a knot in his hair. 

“I’m not sure where we need to head for next,” Kravitz tries, somewhat apologetically..

“I know,” Taako responds, and lays the hairbrush down next to him. He’s still looking out the porthole window. “You would have said something otherwise.”

Kravitz smiles, holding back a laugh of pure joy. Taako still trusts him. “Have a good night,” he offers then, and disappears from the cabin.

—

Taako doesn’t call his fellow relic hunters into his quarters for a few days after that, claiming they all need something of a break. This comes as a relief to all of them, not having realised how constantly they’ve been working over the last few weeks until they’re finally able to slow down. Taako pulls them all up to the quarterdeck one morning, with an elbow resting upon Avi’s shoulder at the wheel, and whips an actual spyglass from his coat.

“What are you in the mood for, boys? Warm or cold?”

Merle opens his mouth excitedly, but Magnus claps a hand over it - “You got to choose last time, Merle! I say _warm_ ,” Magnus shouts, just as Kravitz calls the opposite.

Magnus and Kravitz exchange a look, then they both look towards Taako. He studies them both, then breaks into a smile and leans up close to Magnus.

“Sorry, Kravitz, dear Maggie has been with me much longer. Warm it is,” he declares, as he smacks a kiss against Magnus’ cheek. Magnus immediately shoves him away, but he’s laughing as he does so.

“Where do you fancy then, captain?” Avi asks, pulling a compass from a chain around his neck.

“Let’s aim for Calimport. South east, I’d guess. How long do you think?”

Avi hums to himself and turns the wheel idly in his hands. “Give it a month, I say. We’ll stop at Sundrah for supplies, but after that we should be set for uninterrupted sailing. Especially if we’ve got this one to keep a current under us,” he says, nodding eagerly towards Kravitz.

Kravits smiles, almost sheepishly. There’s something endearing about being valued by the rest of the crew, even if it’s for small jobs here and there. The appreciation that comes from pulling a current or helping retrieve small items lost overboard has been a wonder for helping him feel welcome. To signal his co-operation, he and Avi exchange casual salutes. Taako rolls his eyes, but his smile remains.

“Alright, dorks, get to it,” he says with a clap of his hands, before they disperse from the quarterdeck to their own sections of the ship.

—

It takes just over a week for them to hit Sundrah, and most of the crew are eager to disembark when they arrive. They only have two nights planned in the small port town, but they’ve spent far too much uninterrupted time at sea and Taako feels it’s best to let them relax on dry land.

Kravitz is more than happy to stay aboard, and spends most of his evening helping Lucas at the mast, then the later hours stargazing off the front of the ship. The deck is entirely bare by the time he turns back to head to the crew’s cabin for an early night.

But as he approaches the doorway leading down, the captain’s door flies open and Taako leans out of it. He startles at the sight of Kravitz, but relaxes immediately after he’s collected himself.

“Just who I wanted to see,” he hums. “Come in, would you?”

Kravitz looks around nervously, then lets his hand fall off the door handle to the crew’s quarters. He follows Taako inside his cabin.

He relaxes a little when he realises they’re alone, and there’s no Magnus to tower over him nor Merle to study him from afar. His first thought at being asked into the quarters was that they’d be spending another night studying maps, or perhaps there would be more questioning to be had. But Taako is simply standing over his desk, pouring out two drinks from dusty bronze bottle.

“I found some rum in the brig. Don’t know how well it ages, but I heard it’s good for your teeth,” Taako grins, as he reaches an outstretched hand to Kravitz, offering him a drink. He immediately takes a sip of his own, screwing up his face at the taste. “It’s definitely not the wine I’m used to.”

Kravitz chuckles and follows suit. “What can I help you with?” he offers, still uncertain.

But Taako guffaws and drops down to sit on the edge of his bed. “Nothing, my dude,” he responds eventually, “Company would be nice. I’ve yet to, uh…” 

Kravitz tilts his head when Taako pauses. He approaches the bed and takes a seat next to him, sitting quietly with his mug cradled in his lap.

Eventually Taako sighs and finishes, “ _Thank_ you. For what you did in the cavern - Or, really, for anything.” 

Kravitz is a little taken aback, and he can’t figure out why Taako looks so bummed out.

“You… don’t have to? Go out of your way to thank me, I mean,” he attempts.

Taako shakes his head and downs more of his drink.

“Nah, dude, I do. I had a bit of a fit in those caverns, and it wasn’t until afterwards that I realised everything you’ve been doing for us and our venture. And how much you, like, _care_.” He groans again, and Kravitz gets the idea that he’s simply annoyed at himself, either for the delayed gratitude or the stumble of his words as he attempts it.

“Well,” Kravitz starts, feeling a little lost as well. He reaches a hand over and gently grasps one of Taako’s reassuringly. “You’re welcome? Thank _you_ for. Uh… The opportunity, I suppose.”

Taako relaxes a little bit, and he starts to chuckle to himself. 

“Can we get blasted or something now? I’ve got bottles of this shit.”

Kravitz looks down and swirls the remaining liquid in his cup thoughtfully. “Maybe we should save it for Calimport. Make a big night of it,” he suggests.

His hand is still on Taako’s. He realises this when Taako squeezes it gently, and pulls it a little closer.

He turns to look Taako in the eye, and finds his captain is angled to face him more directly than he is. 

“Why wait?” he asks with a smile. Taako leans in, and Kravitz’s breath catches when their mouths are an inch apart. Taako pauses there, looking up at him through heavily lidded eyes and smiles a little wider. “I sent Magnus and Merle off to town for the night. They won’t be interrupting us. Just you and me.”

It’s Kravitz’s turn to lower his gaze to Taako’s lips; they’re soft and damp, slightly parted and curled into a subtle smile. 

He untangles their hands to reach for the back of Taako’s neck, pulling him close and crashing their lips together in a surge of courage. Taako immediately reaches over to plant his mug on his side table, determined not to part the kiss as he moves. Kravitz’s mug drops out of his hand, and neither of them pay any mind to the remainder of rum that spills onto the floor.

Taako’s hands are immediately fisted in the lapels of Kravitz’s coat, holding him close as their lips move together. Kravitz uses his freed hand to loop around Taako’s waist, while the hand at the nape of his neck skims upwards to tangle in his hair. Taako is the one to open his mouth first, and Kravitz quickly follows suit to meet his tongue and kiss him until they’re both panting for air.

Even as they part to allow Taako a chance to catch his breath, Taako is doing everything in his power to hold Kravitz close to him, to get their bodies flush together. His hands let go of his lapels and slide underneath the collar of his shirt, giving his collar a gentle squeeze before he’s pushing the coat off his shoulders.

Kravitz allows him to shed his coat, on the silent condition that their lips rejoin and their kiss continues. He leans with Taako’s tugging to remove his sleeves and get rid of his coat entirely, shivering when Taako’s hands drop down to his stomach to lift up the front of his shirt. Taako hums approvingly when he settles his palms against Kravitz’s firm abdomen, and finally pulls away from the kiss so he can help Kravitz out of his shirt.

Kravitz feels a little underdressed when the cool night air hits his naked torso, while Taako is still protected by his blouse. He drops his hands down to untuck Taako’s shirt from his belt and remedy the situation - humming a similar note when his hands come into contact with the flat but soft skin of Taako’s stomach.

Taako squirms ever so slightly, and decisively pushes Kravitz’s hands away so he can tug his blouse off over his head. Before Kravitz has much of a chance to admire his dark and freckled body, Taako has scooted back onto the bed and pushed Kravitz down onto his back. He hooks a leg over his waist to settle on top of him, then leans back down to continue their fevered kiss.

The lack of fabric between them is incredibly freeing for their hands to explore while their tongues collide. Kravitz can’t remember the last time he felt somebody run their hands across his chest like this, nor the last time he grazed his fingers across the dimples in someone’s lower back. He feels Taako twitch under the lightness of his touch again, then he gasps when Taako’s fingers gently pinch both his nipples.

He opens his eyes as Taako sits up and grins down at him. In that moment, he forgets who it is he’s kissing - he forgets the captain’s title, his power, his quest - all he sees is a smug (and _beautiful_ ) elf with far too much cheek for his own good.

Kravitz grabs a firm hold of Taako’s waist and flips them over. Taako lets out a startled shout that quickly turns into a delighted laugh, as Kravitz scoots them up the bed and leans down to start sucking kisses onto his collarbone. The laughter dissolves into quiet moans as Taako spreads his legs and pins his knees either side of Kravitz’s hips, desperate to keep their bodies together. He dips his head back to expose his neck, pleased when Kravitz takes the bait and presses his teeth into the soft skin there.

While Kravitz peppers kisses and bites all down his front, Taako wanders his hands up Kravitz’s back, running his nails up his spine and pressing into the firmness of the muscles there. Already knowing that Kravitz will follow his body language, Taako arches his spine slightly off the bed, and almost instantly he feels Kravitz’s lips press down on one of his nipples. He exhales a shaky breath as Kravitz’s tongue and teeth gently tease the bud, then trails one of his hands lower down Kravitz’s back. He can feel Kravitz’s strict concentration on his task at hand, and uses that opportunity to dip his hand under Kravitz’s waistband and give his ass a hard squeeze.

Rather than gasping or breaking his lips away from the surprise of it, Kravitz groans softly and bites down harder around the tender area. Taako takes that as a challenge, and lowers his other hand to follow suit. With his new hold, he pulls Kravitz forward, grinding their hips together until Kravitz finally pulls off his chest to release a shuddering moan.

Kravitz leans back up to be eye level with his captain and presses down another firm kiss. He leaves one of his forearms planted firmly on the bed beside Taako’s head, but moves his free hand back down to Taako’s waist to scoop him up by the small of his back. Taako’s hands release from Kravitz’s backside to sling around his shoulders, then wraps his legs around Kravitz’s waist to keep their hips flush together. With Kravitz’s hand holding him from beneath, they build a steady rhythm of rocking their groins together; Taako’s legs giving him leverage and Kravitz’s hand pulling him upwards.

It doesn’t take long before their kiss is a mess of half touching lips interrupted by moaning and gasping. Kravitz drops his head to press his forehead into the bed beside Taako’s, breath hot on the elf’s neck as they rock their bodies together.

Taako’s back arches involuntarily, and he’s suddenly releasing his grip around Kravitz’s shoulders to give him a firm push off. Kravitz obeys immediately, although a little startled, and watches as Taako reaches down to wrestle with his belt.

“I’m not callin’ it a night until you’re inside me, my dude,” Taako declares, if a little breathlessly. Despite their circumstance, Kravitz still turns a little red at Taako’s brashness, before he opts to help him undress completely. 

Taako, once again, voids Kravitz of any opportunity to simply admire - as soon as they’re entirely naked, he wraps a hand around Kravitz’s length and gives him a slow stroke from base to tip. Kravitz shudders into the touch, grateful that Taako had taken the time to remove his rings and bangles with his clothes.

Taako hums, pleased as he watches his hand follow the length of Kravitz’s dick. He doesn’t give him the pleasure for much longer though, and instead sucks his fingers into his mouth and slides them past his own erection. Kravitz eyes open to see Taako slip a slender finger inside himself, and his mouth falls agape with arousal. 

Kravitz leans back over him, one hand planted in the bed beside Taako’s head, and he rejoins their lips for a softer kiss. His free hand returns the favour and runs up the length of Taako’s shaft, smearing his pre-come at the tip to lubricate the motion. He can feel Taako shift and squirm happily under the touches, but when the kiss begins to stutter, Kravitz lets go - no need to make this an early finish.

Instead of wrapping around his dick, Kravitz presses his hand against the one Taako has knuckle deep inside himself. He gently strokes the back of his hand at first, trailing his finger up the length of his tendons and circling around his knuckles, until his fingertip presses to Taako’s entrance. Taako gasps against his mouth as his index finger joins Taako’s inside of him, stretching him out with their hands pressed flush together.

Taako’s hips jerk slightly into the touches, although he tries his best to keep them steady. Kravitz feels Taako add another finger to the mix, stretching as best he can before pulling both of his and Kravitz’s hands away. 

“Fuck me stupid,” he demands against Kravitz’s mouth, before giving his lower lip a gentle tug with his teeth.

Kravitz lubes himself up to the best of his ability, with only spit and pre-come at his disposal. Taako doesn’t seem to mind as he lines them up and pushes inside him, rather he seems to enjoy it immediately. His head falls back, eyes slipping shut, and his legs wrap themselves back around Kravitz’s waist. Kravitz is slow to push in, waiting for any signs of extreme discomfort, until his pelvis is flush against Taako’s ass and his captain lets loose an involuntary moan.

Kravitz can’t resist diving in to kiss his exposed neck again, sucking and biting at a mark made earlier as his hips begin to slide back. He only gets a few inches out before Taako’s legs are pulling him back in again, and it doesn’t take long for them to build up a powerful rhythm.

Kravitz hits a point that increases Taako’s volume tenfold, to the point where Taako raises both arms above his head - one drapes over his eyes, the other across his mouth, where he bites down on his forearm in an attempt to muffle himself. His moans turn into soft, jarred whimpers spilling out with each breath; still musical to Kravitz, but quiet enough that they won’t draw the attention of the entire port.

The rhythmic movement of their hips has already become fast and automatic. Kravitz uses all of his willpower to still for a moment, fighting against Taako’s legs to pull out a little further, then ramming back in with twice as much force. He hears a muffle shriek from the elf below him, the arch of his back flushing their chests together and adding to the thought that he’s done something right. Taako lets him take on this slower, deeper motion, but drops the hand that had been covering his eyes to grab around the base of his length. Kravitz can feel his hand moving under him, only managing three firm strokes before he comes in the space between them.

He feels it tenfold around his shaft, with Taako’s muscles contracting around his dick and making his thrusts so much tighter. Kravitz doesn’t realise he’s been groaning until he comes and his moan is hoarse in his throat. The arm holding him up buckles and he drops their chests together, the two of them panting in unison as Kravitz’s hips slowly come to a halt.

He lifts himself back up, just enough to slip himself out, then falls into the empty space next to his captain. Taako’s eyes are blown wide, staring at the ceiling with his mouth agape and breathing slowly. He lifts one shaky hand to run through his sweaty, knotted hair and push it out of his face. Kravitz spots a deep set of teeth marks on his forearm and laughs breathlessly. Taako turns to look at him, and smiles dumbly.

“Glad we didn’t wait?” he asks, voice husky.

“So glad,” Kravitz agrees, his eyelids already drooping heavily. “Very good decision.”

“Mmmm,” Taako responds, “That’s why _I’m_ captain, baby.”

—

Kravitz expects ( _hopes_ ) Taako will be at least a little subtle about their sudden night together. He still harbours a slight fear of stepping on toes, especially considering the way Magnus had lashed out after their escape from the crystal caverns. But Kravitz should have known his captain better, and knows he shouldn’t be at all surprised when Taako stands tall on the quarterdeck the next day with his captain’s coat left hanging in his room. He’s even made a notion of tying his hair up into a loose bun, so there’s absolutely nothing hiding the red marks littered all over his neck and collarbone from the rest of the crew. Or from Magnus.

Kravitz tries to keep his distance from the captain and gets to work tending to the sails at the bow of the ship. He realises it’s of course fruitless when a large hand claps him on the back, and he turns to see Magnus standing behind him.

“Come on, bud,” Magnus instructs, gesturing over his shoulder towards the docks. “We’ve still got shopping do to, and the crew could use an extra set of hands.”

Kravitz nods quickly, hesitating only for a moment before ducking past him towards the dock. Magnus quickly dodges out of the way of him, then releases a hearty laugh.

“Don’t worry, buddy, _I_ don’t bite,” he calls out, a sharktooth grin stretched across his face. 

Kravitz feels himself drown in embarrassment as he scurries off the boat and onto the shore - but he supposes he can take jokes over a beating any day.


	6. v - The Chalice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew venture onto dry land in search for the fifth powerful relic. Their journey takes them across the Calim desert to explore countless museums under the guise of being harmless antique collectors. Brief "fake-married" Taakitz, a few domestic moments, and a lot of dry land travels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No illustrations for this one, sorry everyone (⏓‸⏓) I know this chapter took a while, so I just wanted to get it out there. Next chapter will definitely be illustrated as the crew meet the dark elves of Wonderland!

_The Balance_ rolls into the docks of Calimport well before the light of dawn. Taako carefully wakes Merle, Magnus and Kravitz from their hammocks in the crew’s quarters, and gathers them into his cabin to look over all the information they’ve gathered about the relics so far.

For a long while, they all sit tiredly around his table, silently flipping through the papers and maps gathered from the lockboxes they’ve so far discovered. Their four relics - the Oculus lens, the fire gauntlet from Phandalin, the woven sash from the Whalebones archipelago, and the Philosopher’s stone from deep within a crystal cavern - sit in the centre of the table, taunting them with their mystery. Every now and then, one of them will pick up a relic, turn it over in their hands, then place it back down after finding nothing new.

After an hour of muttering and reading amongst themselves, the only decent information they have are two pieces of parchment sitting on top of the piles. Each paper is a drawing of a relic they’ve yet to acquire. One is a rather plain looking goblet, the other resembles a bell with elegant engravings. The notes and writings on each are in the same unfamiliar language as all the other papers.

“I mean…” Magnus starts, then releases an already-defeated sigh. “I don’t know. At least we’ve got _pictures_. Maybe we could just…”

“Ask someone?” Merle finishes for him, and Magnus gives off an exaggerated shrug. 

“I don’t know! People aren’t gonna know they’re super special or anything. There are museums in Calimport. This shit looks old. Maybe somebody recognises one of them.”

Taako thinks on it for a moment, before eventually snatching up the drawings and tucking them into his coast. “I’m with Magnus. What else are we going to do?”

The four all reluctantly agree. It’s not the most lavish of plans, but it’s a bigger step forward than they’ve been able to make in weeks. They all rise to their feet, ready to leave Taako at peace and help Avi dock the ship, as Taako scoops the relics up into his arms to locks them back into a safe under his desk.

—

The feel of cobblestone and dry wood beneath his feet is something Kravitz will never get used to. He watches the rest of the crew rejoice in their new quarters, spread out across the rooms of an inn which resides on the outskirts of the city. They’re close enough to see the docks from the windows, but it still feels too far from sea for Kravitz’s liking. At least they get to sleep in beds instead of hammocks, he supposes.

To avoid raising suspicion about the chalice they’re looking for, the four of them decide to let the crew enjoy their time in the city, while only the _relic hunters_ (as they’ve taken to calling themselves) will ask around, while keeping as low a profile as they can manage. They book two rooms for themselves at the inn adjacent to the one holding the rest of the crew, and the moment they arrive, they all take their time to bathe and tidy themselves up to look less like pirates who’ve spent months at sea.

The bathhouse connected to the inn is a large, shared space. Taako drags Kravitz down there the moment they’ve collected their keys, desperate to wash his hair in private before much of a crowd rolls in. He claims Kravitz is there to protect him as a servant to a captain, but when Kravitz mentions the empty room and the fact that’s literally Magnus’ job, Taako only smirks and turns away.

Kravitz notes to himself how remarkably different Taako looks, after only a few minutes in the bath water. Of course they’ve been ocean-deep before, but there’s something inherently calming about the echoing drip of water from a distant tap and the steam that lifts off Taako’s cleaner skin. He spends a good half hour with his head tilted aside, fingers running carefully through his long hair to detangle all the salt and knots within. Kravitz eventually relaxes enough to lazily re-twist his dreadlocks, the two of them sitting side by side in the room-sized bath, with the sides of their legs barely touching.

It’s impossibly warm and deafeningly still, and Kravitz is expecting it to devolve into something eventually - but all Taako does is press a soft, slow kiss to his jaw before he rises from the water.

The next time they see each other, the relic hunters have regrouped on the ground floor of the inn for dinner and drinks. Kravitz has never seen any of them dressed in such a casually civilised way before - he wouldn’t even guess them to be sailors if he were meeting them for the first time. Taako’s hair is pulled back out of his face and woven into a large, thick braid that runs down to the middle of his back; Magnus is actually wearing a shirt with sleeves, albeit a little tight across his chest; and Merle’s beard has been combed to rid all of seaweed and shells of it. Kravitz sits awkwardly across the table from them, hesitant about his own dressings that make him look more like a peasant than anything else, but his crew mates don’t linger on it.

They dig into their warm pub meals and glasses of red wine, while Taako sips precariously at his own and studies the drawing of the chalice in his lap.

“You know it’s going to be odd if we start asking about this thing as a group. We may look like regular folk, but four people is still enough to look like we’re some kind of treasure hunting party,” Taako eventually points out. Magnus stops chewing his dinner and turns to look at Taako slowly.

“You want us to pair off again, huh?” He asks with a mouth full of food. Kravitz isn’t sure what Magnus means by _again_ , but he listens carefully. Taako shrugs and gives a small nod. 

Magnus swallows, pats his chest with a fist to help it down, then turns his attention to Kravitz. He studies him for a short moment, then announces, “I’ll go with Merle then.”

Taako looks taken aback. “Since when did you not want to pair up with me?” He asks, sticking his nose up. “You should be _honoured_ to be my partner in crime.”

“Yeah, but you always wanna pretend we’re _married_ ,” Magnus chortles, and gives Taako a gentle shove away. “I think Krav’ll be better at _that._ ”

Taako leans up against Magnus, smirking now as he plays along. “Magnus, after all our adventures together? Are you truly divorcing me?” He runs a hand soothingly up Magnus’ bicep, which only makes his first mate laugh again and give a slightly more forceful shove.

Kravitz just realises what they’ve said.

“Hang on, wait, why are we married? I thought we - Aren’t we going to -“

“Pay attention, kid,” Merle butts in. “Imagine us walking ‘round like a posse trying to get information on some mysterious old artefact. People are going to think there’s some treasure to be found - which, there is, but we don’t want them knowing that! So if we’re paired off, we can look like business partners trying to buy some collectors piece instead.”

Taako turns to look at Merle as he explains. His smirk has lessened, but he still looks quite devious. 

“I always thought the marriage part was sexier,” Taako adds, “Gives it a little drama. But you can be business partners if you want, whatever that means. Kravitz can be my illustrious husband who wants to buy me whatever I-“

Taako pauses, looking Kravitz up and down, then glances down at his own outfit.

“Maybe _I’ll_ be the illustrious one. Are you happy being my trophy, _dear_?” Taako taunts, his grin back to its full size.

Kravitz rolls his eyes playfully. “If it gets us this relic, fine. Let’s just get asking, shall we?”

If a little uncomfortably, Kravitz stays right by Taako’s side as they leave the table and seat themselves at the bar. It’s easy to let Taako do all of the talking as they consult the barkeep and flash the drawing of the chalice for opinions, and Kravitz realises Taako has to have done this before. He briefly wonders on all the past treasures he and his crew have stumbled across and hunted down, and what their adventures would have been like without the safety of an oceanic sorcerer. He wonders if any of their bounties could possibly compare to the power of the chalice they seek.

“And I said - _darling_ , are you listening?” Taako’s gaze on him snaps Kravitz out of his shy stupor. It’s been easy to haze out the conversation, since Taako doesn’t seem to need any help. He practically owns the room whenever he opens his mouth, and Kravitz feels very small sitting next to him.

“Sorry,” he stumbles out, quickly pressing a hand up to his head and offering an apologetic smile. “Too much wine, I guess?”

Taako’s smile is unimpressed, but Kravitz gets the feeling it’s part of their act. “This wonderful young woman was just telling me about the museum of foreign treasures on the north end of town,” he explains, with a smooth gesture to a lady sitting on his other side. 

Kravitz reaches a hand across to politely take hers in greeting. She gives him a warm smile, but looks somewhat apologetically towards Taako.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think they have anything that’s up for sale. But I’ve definitely seen something like that there - there’s loads of different chalices and cups, and they’ve got this amazing section for coins, and even old weapons like -“

“Yes, thank you dear,” Taako interrupts, waving a hand in her direction. “That’s perfect for us, a good look will do. I won’t take up much more of your evening.”

The woman scurries back to her table with an arm full of drinks, while Taako carefully folds and slips the parchment into his blouse. His smile is glowing with confidence, and he turns to Kravitz with his glass raised. 

“We’ve got plenty of time to kill before we need to get our rest on, fancy another bottle?”

When it dawns on Kravitz that they actually have a lead, and their first step towards the chalice is a mere few miles north, he beams a smile in response and raises his empty glass out to the barkeep.

“One or two won’t hurt.”

—

All four of them know it’s fruitless to expect the relic to be waiting for them on the doorstep of the first museum they enter, but Taako can’t help but be disappointed. They take an entire day to wander every corridor, explore every room open to them, and even manage to sweet talk the curator into letting them see the pieces not yet available to the public. But the entire museum turns up empty for anything even slightly resembling the chalice in their drawings.

When they stumble upon a cabinet of similar looking goblets and glasses, Kravitz asks Taako whether he thinks their chalice could be one of them. But Taako, with his Oculus held casually in one hand like a monocle, glances through it and solemnly shakes his head.

“How can you tell?” Kravitz asks, brow slightly furrowed as he leans over the glass display. “Some of these have very similar markings, shouldn’t we compare them to the drawing?”

Taako approaches him lazily with the Oculus held out. “There’s nothing here,” he says tiredly. “You think I didn’t check over the other relics with this thing as soon as we found them? They all show something of a faint golden glow. It’s like it’s able to recognise its own brethren. Nothing in here so much as sparkles.”

Kravitz releases a tired sigh. “At least we have other places to visit, no? Magnus and Merle have found a few suggestions, and the curator gave us another address. Nothing to do but carry on, right?”

Taako relaxes into a little smile, then he forcefully stretches it across his face. He grabs ahold of Kravitz to link their arms together and nods defiantly.

“You’re right, my dear, we shall carry on!”

Kravitz can’t deny that while the search has turned up nought, their disguise game has definitely kept him on his toes. Taako keeps making up outlandish events about their past and their faux relationship, throwing stories and questions at Kravitz in front of the curator and the treasurer. He’s even quizzed Kravitz on completely fake events in front of random strangers in passing, and Kravitz begins to see that perhaps their cover story is more of a grab bag of entertainment for the pirate captain. He definitely understands it after their first day of aimless wandering around a relic-less museum, even after the first hour when the boredom begun to sink in. He can’t help but wonder what kind of outlandish stories and events Magnus had to go through on all the past times he apparently stood in Kravitz’s place as the trophy husband. Kravitz has to watch himself from laughing under his breath at the thought.

Eventually they meet with Magnus and Merle at an inn in the northern sector of the city. They swap information, having visited two separate museums that day, and plan their next stops in the coming days ahead. 

Needless to say, their next few ventures end up just as cold and dull as the first. At the end of each long, exhausting day, both pairs share a spark of hope that perhaps their companions will have found something - but they meet every evening, all of them empty handed, all of them slightly disheartened. 

By this point, they’ve travelled further and further north out of Calimport, exploring villages and establishments deep into the Calim desert. Taako is determined to travel onwards, following their trail of _maybe this_ and _perhaps here_ to the next port town of Memnon, but Magnus stands in his way - literally blocking the doorway of his bedroom of their rented room one morning.

“We’ve been gone for _days_ ,” he points out, ignoring Taako’s impatient look. “We can’t keep wandering further and further from the crew, or the _ship_. They’ll think something has happened, and they won’t have anyone to turn to.”

Taako’s shoulders eventually relax, and he looks pensively out the window of the room, which reveals nothing but blue sky and bright, yellow sand.

“You’re right. We can’t leave them behind. But I feel like we’re actually _getting_ somewhere, Magnus,” Taako pleads. Magnus silences him with a simple shake of his head.

“I know that. I’ve been here the whole time - I know what it’s like to drift aimlessly at sea when the needle won’t point where you want it to. But I think we -“

Taako’s face drops, and he quickly lifts a hand to silence Magnus. He turns back into his room, drops at the foot of his bed to his satchel, and begins digging through it. Magnus looks on curiously from the doorway, as does Kravitz sitting on the bed and Merle at the window, but none of them move. Eventually Taako pulls out his compass and holds it out in front of him.

“I almost _forgot_ about it,” he admits. One hand hovers over the latch, hiding the needle from all of their view. “It… It stopped working. When we were looking for that belt, sash, thing. When we were at the archipelago, I thought it had just stopped working entirely. Every time I tried it, it would spin it every other direction. But _perhaps_ it just didn’t know how to look past us owning such invaluable items.

“Here, now, all of the relics we’ve collected are far away, back in my cabin of _The Balance_. So maybe… Maybe it will be able to see clearly again, and show me where to go.” Taako’s hand is still covering the top of the compass, and he looks up at Magnus nervously.

“If it’s broken, then fine, it’s broken. We go home. If it points south, then that’s it - All it can see are the relics we’ve already found, and I’ll go back to the crew, and we’ll find something else. But if it points elsewhere… If it can sense something bigger and stronger than what we’ve got, I _have_ to follow that.”

He’s looking at Magnus almost desperately for approval. Magnus nods without hesitation, and Taako uncovers the compass, flipping the cover open. Everyone leans in close to examine the needle.

True north.

—

Magnus left immediately after the needle pointed unwaveringly towards Memnon. They parted with plans to meet at the port there, and Magnus exited the inn with a determined stride in his step. Taako knew he would guide the crew steadily and make for a wonderful captain in his absence, but he didn’t allow himself very long to think about it. Once Magnus was gone, the three remaining hunters gathered their things and set out for the port of Memnon, directly north of their location.

With the newfound knowledge that the compass is back in working order, Taako never lets it out of his grip. Even as they ride a caravan on the simple road through the barren Calim desert, he continually pops it open to check their course. The needle remains steady.

The trip to the port takes another few days, but they convince their caravan driver to carry on as hastily as possible, using much of the contents of the Whalebones lockbox to pay for their journey. Taako mediates often, but uncomfortably, and Kravitz does his best to sleep through the dry heat of the desert sun.

As they arrive on the edge of the city, Taako keeps his compass open and directs their driver to follow its path. The caravan winds through the narrow streets towards the opposite end of town, until they finally come to stop outside a small, lacklustre building with a modest sign above its double doors. It reads: _Antique and Artefact Refuge_ , and the trio notice a few dusty looking props in the window.

They pay their driver a few more coins, then set on foot to the closest possible inn across the road. Taako is clearly restless as they dump their things into their new shared room and begin preparing for a night’s rest. He paces as he brushes his hair, eyes locked on the window that overlooks the antique museum across the street.

“First thing tomorrow,” Merle promises him. “We’ll get ourselves cleaned up tonight and first thing tomorrow we’ll storm that place for the chalice.”

“Calmly,” Kravitz adds, with a crooked eyebrow. “We’ll _calmly_ storm it, in our disguises, and leave without a fuss.”

“Well, yeah,” Merle agrees, with a bit of a huff. “I guess.”

The bathhouse connected to this inn isn’t as large or luxurious as their last one, but they take the time to wash up and prepare their clothes for the following day. Kravitz can hear Taako tossing on top of his bedcovers all night, unable to relax, and it’s a wave of relief for all of them when the sun finally rises. Their captain practically runs out onto the street when he spots the _open_ sign flip on the door of the museum, but Kravitz and Merle are close behind to keep him in check.

“Alright, plan?” Kravitz asks, where the three of them are gathered outside on the doorstep of the establishment. This causes Taako to take a deep breath and actually think about the next few steps. 

“I’ll keep the Oculus out,” he starts, talking slowly as he thinks on the spot, “And uhhh… We’ll do what we normally do, and check out each room until we find the cup that stands out.” He clasps his hands together, entwining all except his index fingers, and points them at Merle. “You’re not usually with us, soooo… You can be daddy.”

“ _What!_ ” Merle exclaims. “I’m not that much older than you!”

“Well you look it, sweet cheeks. You can be my father, so it’s your money I’m spending. That work for everyone?”

Merle grumbles under his breath but nods reluctantly. Kravitz tries to hold back an amused grin as he agrees in turn. 

“So we’re just… browsing. Looking for something cute. We’ll claim to pay any price, and then come up with some kind of distraction to get the staff looking away so we can grab the damn thing,” Taako summarises, before he finally pushes one hand against the door and swings it open.

The foyer is an incredibly small room, the walls of which are lined with shelves in locked glass cabinets. Directly in front of them is a counter with a bell, but no one is standing behind it. Taako takes the opportunity to have a quick glance around the room with the lens held up to his eye like a monocle, but nothing on the shelves stand out to him. He glances at Kravitz and Merle, before pulling out his compass and peeking down at it.

The needle points slightly to their left, towards a door beside the counter. The three of them move in unison towards it, just as a figure emerges from a back room behind the counter.

Taako yelps at the sudden presence, startling the man who just arrived. 

“I didn’t mean to scare you!” he exclaims, beaming at them, “I didn’t even realise we had visitors. Welcome! Can I show you around at all?”

Taako instinctively leans away from him, despite an entire block of furniture being between them. “We’re cool, thanks,” he says with a wave of his hand. “Just having a look around.”

“Not a problem!” The man says. Kravitz can tell his enthusiasm so early in the morning is already irritating his companions. “I’m just tidying up the place for the day, so I’ll be wandering around too. Just call out if you have any questions, and please don’t touch anything!”

Taako can’t push them through the door fast enough. The next room is still cosy, but it’s much longer than the foyer they’ve come from. It’s decorated similarly, with shelves along the walls, but with a few tables in the centre of the room as well. Every surface is covered in something that looks rather dirty or old, and nothing looks incredibly special or valuable to their naked eyes. Taako’s compass begins to shiver being surrounded by so many antiques, but still points in the general direction of their next room.

He pockets the compass now, slightly untrusting in its less-than-steady position, and keeps a firmer grip on the Oculus. He gives the room a once-over, then quickly shakes his head and leads his companions onward.

The third room, although similar in decoration, feels much colder when they step through the doorway. The first thing they see is the large set of windows on the far wall, which overlook the ocean right outside. Taako wanders over to it curiously, with Kravitz close at his side, and they lean themselves up against the open window pane.

“Bet you missed it, huh?” Taako murmurs, smirking when he notices the small subconscious smile creeping up Kravitz face.

“It’s comforting to be near it again,” Kravitz admits, and allows himself a moment to breathe in the sea air.

“Hey lovebirds,” Merle eventually interrupts. “Are you done? Because it’s cup central over here.”

They turn their heads to look over their shoulders at him, and startle when they notice a huge glass cabinet filled with different kinds of goblets and chalices inside. Merle looks rather proud of himself, with his arms crossed over his chest as he nods towards the middle of the cabinet. “Got to be one, right?”

Taako whips out his Oculus, and surely enough, spots a faint glowing light coming from the bottom of the cabinet. He rushes over, drops down to his knees and peers through the glass, touching his fingers to it when he finds the one chalice that matches his drawings exactly. The golden glow through the Oculus surrounds it entirely, and makes it feel far closer than it is inside its glass prison.

“Well hey now,” a familiar voice chimes out, making the three of them jump once more. “Found something you fancy?” The man who’d first greeted them, perhaps the curator or the clerk, stands over Taako with a big smile on his face. “Nothing too shiny in that display there, but some great pieces if you’re a collector.”

Taako stands to his feet immediately, putting on his most charismatic smile. “Oh, I am,” he assures, then reaches a hand out to grab Kravitz’s arm and pull him close into his side. “Looking for an anniversary present, actually. Something to match, uh, some plates we’ve got.”

The clerk doesn’t think twice before he’s pulling a set of keys from his pocket and unlocking the cabinet for them. “I might even have some history for these if you’d like to hear it! I always think the story behind an item help you choose the one that’s right for you -“

“No, that’s fine,” Taako interrupts, then smiles awkwardly as he tries to remain cool. “I know which one I want.” He then points directly at the chalice, and keeps his finger steady until the clerk has picked it up into his hand.

“You sure?” He asks, a little hesitant. “I mean, I know every antique is special, but this one’s kinda mouldy. I think it was found in a shipwreck somewhere a few years back. Not the nicest piece for a home or -“

“It’s exactly what I want,” Kravitz attempts, looking at Taako then at the clerk. His bluff roll doesn’t hit quite as high, and the clerk is pulling the chalice close to his chest uncertainly. 

“I just realised you haven’t seen our luxury items room,” he perks up, “Just next door, we’ve got some beautiful pieces, of all different designs! It wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t show you the -“

Taako lets out a frustrated noise, and before he realises what he’s even doing, he’s swung a punch right at the man’s face. He topples backwards and falls to the ground, dropping the chalice where it rolls across the floor. Merle immediately runs for it, and Taako cradles his hand. Kravitz is looking at him incredulously, trying his best not to laugh at the sudden action.

Until the clerk groans, and starts to sit up, holding a hand over his face.

“Why did you…” he looks up at Taako and Kravitz, confusion falling away when he realises Merle has ducked over towards the chalice. “Isaac!” he shouts at the top of his lungs with his head turned towards a closed doorway, his face suddenly awash with anger.

It’s Kravitz turn to panic now, and he drops down to give the man another solid hit in the head. That one definitely knocks him out, leaving him lying there unconscious in the middle of the shop floor.

Kravitz looks up at Taako, still standing there cradling his hand. “I’m gonna have to teach you how to hit, aren’t I?” he asks, exasperated, but Taako gives him an impatient look that says _really? Now?_

They hear the impending footsteps of someone running from another room, and Kravitz points at the chalice in Merle’s hand, then at the open window. Without a doubt of trust, Merle runs for it and throws the chalice outside. Taako opens his mouth to protest, but Kravitz jumps up and covers his mouth, then drags him over as well.

“You too!” he says quickly, and heaves the window up so it’s entirely opened. Taako doesn’t hesitate to jump out after his chalice, although he gives a shout when he realises there’s nothing beneath him. Merle jumps up to try and peer out the window, but not before they hear a splash of their captain landing in the ocean right outside. 

“Who builds a shop on a cliff?” Merle mutters as he scrambles up to sit on the window pane. “Or a town for that matter? Haven’t these people heard of bedrock?”

“Merle!” Kravitz snaps, just as the door flies open and another man bursts into the room. He takes one look at the two of them half out the window, then down at his unconscious co-worker, before bolting towards them.

Kravitz gives Merle a hefty shove, then kicks off himself to dive in as Isaac’s fingers just brush the bottom of his shoe. The second they land in the water, Kravitz pushes both of his hands upwards towards the building, sending a wave curling from the still depths to swell up and crash against the side of the building and the open window. They hear Isaac shout incoherently, but don’t hang around much longer to see if he has the footing to call for help.

“Now what, genius?!” Taako gasps, shouting the moment the wave has fallen and he has air back in his lungs.

Rather than answering verbally, Kravitz points out towards the horizon of the ocean. Merle and Taako turn to look, squinting into the sunlight until they spot a familiar shape on the water. _The Balance_ approaches the town steadily, the wind hitting all of its sails on a set course for the port of Memnon. 

Taako and Merle still look a little apprehensive, exhaustion from the sudden rush of panic and adrenaline overcoming them. Kravitz scoops an arm around Taako’s waist to hold him up, then pulls Merle up to his other side, and lazily kicks them towards the oncoming ship. A gentle current picks up beneath them, guiding them outwards with little effort to swim. Taako looks over his shoulder towards the antique shop on the cliff, chewing his lip nervously.

“Kravitz, what about the -“

“I’ve got it covered, captain,” Kravitz interrupts, satisfying Taako for the moment.

The ship’s sails withdraw when it’s a few hundred yards from the docks, and Kravitz can guess that Magnus and the crew have seen them swimming in their direction. A rope has already been thrown over the side by the time they arrive, and Taako grabs it immediately to hoist himself up and out of the water. Kravitz helps Merle up next, then turns to look back at the town before he grabs ahold himself.

Magnus looks incredulous when the three of them finally set foot on the deck of the ship.

“That’s one way to make an entrance,” he comments, hands on his hips as he looks his crew mates up and down. “Do we, uh… Need to go back for your things?”

“We can never go back to Memnon,” Taako corrects, cutting a hand through the air decisively. “I’ll have to do without my old coat for a while. I’ve got everything I need right here,” he says with a pat to his side pockets. 

“Well, speaking of, did you…” Magnus starts, waving his hands vaguely. “Did you find it?”

Taako pales. He and Merle turn to look at Kravitz suddenly, but Kravitz only smiles in response.

“It’s like you’ve never met me,” he teases, then raises one hand lazily above his head.

The ship dips to one side as the water swells beneath it, and the crew titter and rush to peer over the side of the ship. A rush of water suddenly lifts, and a wave similar to the one that crashed upon the side of the antique shop bowls over the deck of the ship. Everyone but Kravitz gets swept back as the ship rocks under the wave of force, but once the water has spilled over the other edge, they’re left sitting on a damp deck with the familiar chalice lying in the centre of them.

Taako crawls forward and snatches it up, hastily checking it over with his Oculus before breathing a huge sigh of relief and rolling over onto his back. He keeps it clutched close to his chest as he turns his head to look at Kravitz.

“Never do that again. I mean it. Tell me your fucking plans from now on.”

“Sure thing, captain,” Kravitz grins, and reaches a hand out to help them all up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not a huge fan of this one, and feel kind of bad since the eleventh hour is my favourite arc, but i hope you enjoyed it and are just as excited for the dark elf sirens as i am!


	7. vi - The Bell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako and his crew are propositioned by a pair of merfolk, to aid his search for the next magical relic. Taako quickly realises their true nature as powerful, evil sirens, and does his best to ward his crew away from their promises. But will he be able to resist their thrall?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Illustrations are back for this chapter! Apologies the first drawing of the actual sirens is a little hasty, I monster factory'd myself and had to ollie out because it made me so uncomfortable omg

The cool predawn breeze has become a familiar sensation for Kravitz as of late. There’s something indescribably calming about the stillness of the scene as _The Balance_ drifts through archipelago waters, before the sunrise has even begun to hint on the horizon. Leaning his full weight against the banister at the bow of the ship and breathing in the sea air has become something of a meditation, to stand at the head of an empty deck with nothing but lapping waters and a distant navigator for company.

And then there’s Taako, occasionally offering his presence like he has this morning. For such a charismatic, brash individual, most time spent with him is a contest of wit or ducking and weaving through orders shouted from the quarter deck. Taako at four in the morning is a very different experience - like he holds a respect for the silence and Kravitz’s peace that outweighs his usually sharp personality.

Kravitz wraps an arm around Taako’s shoulder in an attempt to share warmth, which Kravitz has occasionally taken to doing since Taako left his favourite coat in a Memnon inn. Taako slides a hand around Kravitz’s waist and cups it against the bone of his hip, which he has occasionally taken to doing since he found Kravitz’s new hobby of standing alone at the bow of the ship. 

The warm touch of Taako’s fingers massaging the flash of skin between his shirt and his trousers has become a familiar sensation for Kravitz as of late.

He breathes out a quiet laugh when Taako presses his lips to the underside of Kravitz’s jaw, not expecting the light touch in such a sensitive place. The hand he has around Taako’s shoulders moves to cup around his neck, simply resting it there as the elf moves soft, open kisses along his jaw and under his ear. His first instinct is to talk nonsense, to tease Taako for his tenderness, to make some remark that would usually have Taako biting back to turn their grip rough and their clothes shed. But he shares a similar respect for the silence, for the peace, and figures that if Taako is willing to be soft and quiet with him, he should be soft and quiet in return.

His fingers trail from Taako’s neck and up into his hair, threading into the side of his braid and helping guide Taako’s head upwards. When the captain’s eyes are finally set on his own, Kravitz leans in to kiss his lips and hold him closer still. Both of Taako’s hands slink around Kravitz’s waist now, rubbing small circles into his hips underneath his shirt, but making no move to venture further than that. 

The kiss is easy, without expectation, without competition. They subconsciously pull each other closer, until they’re standing chest to chest and swaying each other gently with the morning breeze. Taako hums a quiet note into Kravitz’s mouth, a sign of satisfaction Kravitz has been gradually learning to draw out of him. It sticks with him as they kiss, and a harmony flows through his mind that ebbs and flows like the water at the side of the ship, lifting and falling in time with their breaths and their tongues.

After a moment, Taako’s mouth stills and he carefully pulls out of the kiss. He eyes Kravitz curiously, tired eyes half lidded, eventually easing into a smile and leaning his head into the crook of Kravitz’s shoulder. They stand together for a moment, both of their bodies continuing to sway to the music - 

Kravitz realises belated that the tune exists outside of his mind, and Taako can hear it too.

They pull back to look at each other, then stare out across the horizon, as if doing so will reveal the source of the wordless chorus. The sea is just as still and dark as it always is at four o’clock, but the sound makes it feel so much fuller to them both.

“Where is that coming from?” Taako finally asks, his voice shattering the bubble of quiet and calm they had made for themselves. Kravitz doesn’t know, but feels determined to find out and bring it closer to his captain.

“It’s so… I’ve never heard anything like it before,” Kravitz comments in place of an answer, his eyes locked on the horizon, unable to move.

They stand together for another few moments, before Taako wrenches himself out of Kravitz’s grip and begins walking back to the cabins. 

“I’m going to get my spyglass - Let’s see if we can get any closer!” He announces over his shoulder, pulling Kravitz into action. He runs to catch up with him, then skips up to the quarterdeck to instruct Lucas of the noise. Their new navigator, however, already seems taken with it, and has been steering the ship accordingly.

By the time Taako has re-emerged from his cabin with his spyglass in tow, a dozen or so crew members have awoken and made their way onto the deck. Everyone leans against the side of the ship that feels closer to the music, almost like they’re reaching out for it.

In the darkness of predawn, Taako can’t see much through his spyglass, but Lucas makes hefty work of steering and guiding them by ear. Everyone aboard jitters and huddles up excitedly at the sight of land in the form of several tiny islands in the distance. The chorus of soothing vocals has only gotten louder as they’ve continued on, but the crew still can’t make out any words - Just note after note, breathless and smooth, giving each and every crew member a feeling of inexplicable yearning in their gut.

With little wind on their side, they drift gradually closer. The sun slowly begins to make itself known from behind them, and as soon as Taako notices the lightening of the sky, he pulls his spyglass back up to his eye to search with the new light. Through the scope, he grasps a better perspective of the islands they’re sailing towards - their size makes them look more like mere boulders jutting out from the water’s surface. The largest one, perhaps several yards in diameter, has two figures atop it.

It’s still too far to make out any details, but Taako is overwhelmed with the desire to understand the source of their morning tune. He digs into the spyglass’ pouch, searching for another lens to attach to the end of his scope to help him see further. One of the older, wider lenses offers better clarity, and with the ship sailing slowly onward, he can make out a few details of the figures.

They’re almost identical in size and build, both slim with narrow waists and broad shoulders. Both their hair is long and cascading down their backs in thick matted curls, with locks pulled out of their faces and pinned back into mis-matching asymmetrical braids. As the sun slowly rises onwards, small glimmers of light flash across their bodies. Taako’s eyes follow this sparkling trail until he realises the sun is reflecting off scales, and their curled up legs aren’t legs at all - but long and elegant fish tails.

“Mermaids,” he gasps aloud, whipping the spyglass from his face and edging closer to the bannister. “Kravitz, they’re mermaids.”

Kravitz looks incredulously towards their shapes in the distance, releasing a deep breath he didn’t realise he had been holding. Somebody on the main deck must have overheard, because chatter of merfolk quickly rises and spreads across the crowd. By now, every member of the ship is on deck, some leaning over the edges, others half climbed up the mask to get a better look. 

Taako’s amazed smile quickly spreads onto Kravitz. “They’re so far off,” Taako laments, “Can’t you make us a current to get closer or something? I’ve never met a _mermaid_ before.”

Kravitz laughs warmly and leans over the banister next to him. As his hands conduct the flow of the ocean beneath them to speed up their journey, Taako fiddles with more of his lenses, aching to get an even closer look.

A sudden thought crosses his mind, and he remembers the Oculus lens around his neck. While knowing full well that it’s only real purpose is to uncover secrets and reveal things as they truly are, he realises he’s never tried to attach it to his spyglass and see whether it will help his gaze across foggy oceans or long distances. Excited by his plan, he quickly fumbles the lens into place, catching Kravitz’s amused attention as he does so. Kravitz watches him fondly as Taako lifts the newly modified spyglass to his eye.

And Kravitz has a front row view of his captain’s smile being knocked off his face.

The tip of a consonant tries to leave Taako’s mouth, but he chokes on a gasp, stilling his breath in his throat.

“Taako? What happened? Are they okay?” Kravitz asks frantically, all while mentally pushing at the water even firmer now.

“ _Stop_ ,” Taako manages to shout this time, as he whips the spyglass away from his face. Kravitz doesn’t quite understand at first - “ _Stop the ship_.”

Kravitz spins around to look at the direction they’re sailing, confused and startled, but quickly clenches his fists to still the current sending them forward.

“No,” Taako says again, “We need to _stop_ , or we’re going to sink.”

Kravitz is frowning now, but Taako’s hands are shaking and his eyes are wide, so he doesn’t stop to question the captain’s change of heart. He pulls his hands back and flurries up a second current in the opposite direction. As they rush onwards towards the island of stones, this new current gives them a forceful push back and sends the boat rocking to one side. Everyone standing on deck is thrown down, but the boat comes to an almost immediate halt.

Everyone hurries up to their feet, scrambling to get back to the bannister to look upon the stones and the figures that sit atop them. A few look up at Taako and Kravitz questioningly, but most of them are focused on the scene before them.

While the larger stones noticeable from their previous distance are tall and rounded, a few smaller structures are visible now that they’re only a few dozen yards away. At the base of each boulder is a cluster of jagged rocks, some even protruding up from the middle of the waters, all threatening like knives pointed in their direction. The rocking of the ship causes a few small waves that pushes them further backwards, safely away from the threat of a hull breach.

Taako catches his breath and finally looks at Kravitz. He opens his mouth to speak, shudders, then hands him the spyglass instead.

Kravitz nervously holds it up to his eye and peers over at the figures. His chest locks up instantly when he sees not smooth, scaly flesh and ornate mermaid tails; but instead bony limbs of chitin, half severed fins and menacing, shark-toothed smiles. The very air around them feels darker through this lens, and a chill runs down him when one of them looks directly at him and a pair of sickly yellow eyes flash excitedly brighter.

He whips the spyglass away, and although he doesn’t feel the same startled fear that Taako had shown, he still feels a sickness to his stomach.

“Sirens,” he confirms.

Taako snatches the spyglass back off him and unscrews the Oculus from it. Before he has a chance to address his crew, one of the sirens leans closer and speaks. The sound of her voice, although harmonious in nature, startles everyone into realising that the singing has stopped. The air feels colder.

“Why didn’t you want to come and see us?” She calls out to them, voice carrying easily across the waves, much in the way Kravitz’s had echoed in the deep waters of the crystal cave. “We were so looking forward to having some visitors, and sharing some of our treasures with you all.”

Taako can feel the distress of the crew on the deck below him, as everyone aches to get closer.

“We would prefer not to drown,” he calls back, while bolstering up as much confidence and Taako charm as he can muster. He’s sure his voice can’t be as loud or clear, but the sirens appear to comprehend him perfectly. The female immediately looks sour.

“We would never,” calls out the other, a male just as stunning in his disguise as his sister appears to be. 

“Even so.” Taako begins down the stairs from the quarterdeck to join his crew, drawing everyone’s eye to him as he rolls his Oculus lens in his hands. “Ignore their empty promises, it’s just the quirk of a siren to offer what they don’t have.”

His crew mutters amidst themselves, everyone immediately reeling slightly backwards at the word _siren_ and the apt realisation that Taako is right. The music no longer hypnotising them, the sharpness of the rocks below is plain to see, and the intentions of the merfolk are just as so.

The sirens do not look pleased at this, but the visible anger quickly washes off their faces and they return to their friendly, inviting smiles. 

“There’s been a misunderstanding,” the female says to the male, and he nods in agreement.

“They’re simply confused.”

The two of them lean forward and slide into the water unanimously, disappearing from view for a moment before reappearing right next to the ship. A few of the crew members lean over curiously to look down at them, but most of them give Taako room to talk to the creatures.

“We don’t offer anything we don’t have the power to give,” the woman finally clarifies, giving Taako flirty little smile.

“So you don’t deny you are sirens?” He asks, in place of acknowledging her offer.

“What’s the point?” The male says. “You’re either well equipped or well experienced on the seas. Why lie when you can clearly tell us for what we really are?”

Taako laughs, high pitched and condescending. “You do realise the reputation of your species, right? You do realise I’d never let a member of my crew swim in your waters, let alone invite you aboard?”

“Even so,” the female mimics, “You do realise the _power_ of our species? You wouldn’t be so fearful of our _waters_ if you didn’t have a clue. So I speak the truth - We don’t offer anything we don’t have the power to give. And, little boy, we can give _a lot_.”

“Don’t listen to them,” Taako turns and address his crew, without so much as a nod or acknowledgement towards the sirens in the water below them. “Nothing is worth an undead eternity trapped in a siren’s clutch.”

“Not even an animus bell?” 

Taako freezes mid step at the sound of the male’s voice. The words _animus_ flash in his mind from hours and hours of pouring over foreign documents for the location of his ancient relics. He hadn’t known what it meant or what it referred to, but hearing it come so clearly from the siren’s lips falters his step away from the bannister.

Just for a moment.

He dusts off the front of his blouse petulantly, then swiftly turns to look down at the sirens.

“Not even an animus bell,” he coos with great confidence, but the words feel like bile in his mouth.

He signals for Lucas to turn them around, then strides straight for his cabin. Without their captain supervising, nobody has the courage or the stupidity to continue talking to the sirens, and quickly busy themselves with other things on deck to get them as far away from the rocks as quickly as possible. Kravitz wants more than anything to follow Taako into his quarters, but when he spots Magnus going for the door, he allows the first mate space to speak with the captain and busies himself summoning them a current to escape with.

The sirens don’t try to continue the conversation after Taako has turned away, but their smiles remain transfixed on their faces as they watch _The Balance_ sail off, offering coy little waves from the water as it disappears from view.

—

“Do you think they spoke the truth?” Magnus asks quietly, and Taako can feel his hesitance even without looking up to see it on his face. He doesn’t reply immediately, but keeps focusing on his own hands where they turn the Oculus lens over and over between his fingers.

Usually Magnus would keep plenty of distance between himself and Taako, busy himself pouring them drinks at Taako’s desk, and offer the captain some splash of alcohol to take his mind off whatever dilemma he’d be facing. But they’ve never really been in a situation close to this before; they’ve never dealt with such value or power, and Magnus can’t think beyond his own core principles of talking quietly and huddling close. Their knees are practically touching on the bed and the closeness of another person is distracting enough that Taako can only repeat the question over and over and over in his head, without any hint of resolution.

He shuts his eyes and his mind is a flash of bells and rocks and menacing smiles. He opens them again and falls back so he’s laying down on the bed, his legs dangling off the edge.

“I think. I think they could find it if I wanted them to.”

Magnus stays sitting, looking over his shoulder at Taako who is now staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.

“But you’re not considering asking them for help?”

“Fuck no,” Taako spits venomously, but his face twitches in a way that looks as if the words have caused him pain. 

“Taako?”

“I mean I _know_ I can’t. And I’m not going to. I swear to God I’m not going to.”

Magnus nods slowly and turns back around to look down at his own hands. “It would just be so convenient if we could,” he offers, and Taako nods despite Magnus being unable to see him.

“You don’t think we could… trick them?” Magnus suggests, tone wavering a little like he’s scared of even asking the question. He’s expecting Taako to shoot him down immediately, but instead his captain slowly rises back up to a sitting position at his side.

“No,” Taako eventually answers, but he looks just as wistful at the thought. “I think we need to agree, that no matter how sweet this deal may sound, we don’t go dealing with sirens. There’s no trick we can pull that won’t just fucking suck for us in the end.”

Magnus releases a short breath and nods decisively. “You’re right,” he responds, with much more gusto this time. “We got all the magic we need right on board. We’ll find that bell ourselves and we won’t let anyone of the crew suffer for it.”

Taako manages a small smile, nodding along with Magnus’ statement. It does feel a lot more empowering to draw such a clear line for themselves, and pushing the siren’s offer so far out of bounds even makes it feel a little easier to ignore its potential. 

“How about some rum then, my man?” Taako eventually pipes up, to which Magnus laughs and crosses over to the bottles cluttering the surface of Taako’s desk.

—

The crew sails on for a few days without any hiccups or hesitancies. Most of them are relieved to have avoided a terrifying run-in with such mystical sea creatures, but there’s still an excited buzz as everyone reminisces on the fact that they even got a chance to _encounter_ such beings.

The talk dies down after the first day and _The Balance_ continues its path onwards, sailing into the horizon in search of interesting lands or opposing ships to plunder. Avi revels in the opportunity to switch out his duties with Lucas, and the two take turns at the wheel and sitting atop the crows nest. Taako spends most of his time in his cabin with Magnus taking care of the crew, but he occasionally stretches his legs for a walk around the deck.

It’s during one of these walks that the ship begins to slow with the promise of a port town up ahead. Taako looks over his shoulder in search of Kravitz, but soon realises that the slowing of their current has come from another force.

He hears a familiar voice calling to him from off the side of the ship.

Taako walks to the starboard banister, peering curiously into the water, and tensing his shoulders at the sight of the siren twins looking back at him.

“Taako,” the male calls up to him, “My dearest, we wanted to talk with you again.”

“That’s nice,” Taako mutters. “Leave my ship alone, would you?”

By now, a few other crew members have crept over to the banister to join the conversation.

“I just think you’re snatching such an incredible opportunity away from your crew,” the female tries, with as sympathetic a tone and expression as she can muster. “Have you even thought about them? What of their greatest desires, which _we_ can bestow upon them?”

Taako feels several sets of eyes upon him then. It’s as if the concept of their being sirens has completely washed away from his crew, and the sirens’ beautiful disguises have hypnotised the pirates once more. He puffs his chest out and releases a heavy sigh, then rolls his eyes and hands his Oculus over to the first crew member he can reach.

The woman, Sloane, takes a single look through the lens and throws herself back, thrusting it back into Taako’s hand. She immediately storms away from the side of the deck, muttering something grounding to herself. Some of the other crew mates look tempted to follow her, but first allow curiosity to get the better of themselves and take a peek through the glass as well.

“Let yourselves remember their true nature, whenever you’re offered such a juicy proposition from these _beasts_ ,” Taako sings out to everyone who can hear him. The sirens have since lost their inviting charm and now look furiously up at Taako and his lens for having snatched their opportunity away from them.

“Let _yourselves_ remember that you’re not wanted here,” he adds, with a pointed look down at the sirens.

—

Over the course of the next two weeks, the sirens visit _The Balance_ several times, at varying hours of the day. A few stray times, they manage to catch the curiosity of some of the crew, but Taako is quick to lend his lens amongst them and remind everyone of what they’re dealing with. The anger of the sirens seems to grow less subtle in nature, and the water practically bubbles where they disappear from the surface of the water. But the crew of _The Balance_ remains safe and aboard, untempted under the guidance of their captain.

While the ship sails on, the search for clues continues in the safety of the captain’s cabin. Taako continues lining up old maps with drawings and clues they’ve poured over thousands of times before. Occasionally he’ll be joined by Magnus, who usually sits in silence with him and helps him sort through papers. Merle is more of a talker, who will pace the room as Taako reads and offer some rambling train of thought that makes little sense in the moment, but could hopefully spark a new idea. Kravitz never really knows what to do with himself when Taako is so focused, but he’s usually only invited inside when Taako knows he needs some kind of distraction - usually in the form of shoulder massages or biting kisses.

After these several failed confrontations with the sirens, Taako goes a solid fortnight before seeing or even thinking about them again. It’s still dark out, as it often is when things kick off aboard _The Balance_. The sun is just about ready to rise as he takes a restless walk around the edges of the deck, needing a change of pace from the staleness of silent meditations in his cabin. He reaches the very tip of the bow when the water begins to flurry and the two familiar figures surface before him.

Taako takes quick look around, relieved to find none of his crew members are awake or wandering, but his fellow hunters are all on guard at the back of the quarterdeck. He offers them a casual wave to catch their attention, then turns back to the sirens when he’s confident that the others have their eyes on him.

“It’s too early,” Taako whines as he leans heavily over the banister. “Can’t you tell I’m sick of you already?”

The sirens haven’t spoken yet, but look at each other slowly when Taako address them. 

His aloofness quickly fades when they turn their gazes back up to him. He locks eyes not with the flirtatious, inviting merfolk disguises, but with sickly yellow irises as the sirens shed their beautiful illusion and face him with their craggy skin and boney frames. The water seems to darken around them and Taako sees his small gasp of breath spill out of his lips in a small fog.

“We’re sick of _you_ ,” the sirens whisper in unison, although their voices feel unusually loud, penetrating Taako’s mind from every direction. His eyes widen as they lift their hands out of the water, revealing a small bell grasped between their entwined fingers.

“You and your stupid spyglass won’t get in the way of our business any longer,” they whisper next, somehow even louder this time, and Taako doesn’t know how his ears haven’t bled, let alone how they haven’t caught the attention of his crew on the other end of the ship. 

Taako only just hears the dull chime of a bell on the edge of his consciousness, before his vision has gone black and his body tumbles forward over the edge of the ship. He can’t hear the thunderous crash of the water when he collides with it, nor Magnus’ shout when his crew mates watch him fall over. He can’t hear, or see, or feel anything at all, except for the cold pull of the ocean dragging him down, down, down.

There’s no question, exchanging of a plan, or any kind of verbal communication between Kravitz, Magnus and Merle. All three of them sprint to the bow of the ship, not even pausing to peer over to inspect the water before they’re all diving off the edge after their captain. The second they hit the water, Kravitz’s magic has surrounded their heads with pockets of air, and they swim down as far as they can until the early light of the sunrise can no longer reach them.

Eventually Magnus’ determined strokes begin to slow down, and the three of them come to halt in the middle of the dark waters, with no hint of their captain’s direction whatsoever. Magnus is still staring down at the void below, until Kravitz finally touches his shoulder to grab his attention. They all look at each other in disbelief, confusion, and fear.

Magnus points forcefully down below them. Kravitz shakes his head and keeps his hand firmly on Magnus’ shoulder.

“They could have gone in any direction,” he points out, voice smooth and loud across the water between them.

“Then use your _fucking magic_ ,” Magnus responds, his voice much clearer to all of them now that he and Merle’s air bubbles are encasing their entire heads. “Find him like you found the Philosopher’s stone.”

He looks threateningly at Kravitz now, his hands balling into fists. Kravitz looks around uselessly, down below them, then around at all sides before he makes very hesitant eye contact with Magnus again.

“I can’t… I can’t _feel_ him. His soul, I -”

“Don’t you tell me he’s dead,” Magnus growls at him, those fists now balled up in the front of Kravitz’s shirt and holding him an inch away from the bubble of air around his head. “No way he’s going down that easy. You find another way and you _find him_.”

Merle only just manages to squirm in between them enough for Magnus to let go, but Kravitz is still shook. He goes to reach a hand for his necklace and falters at the nothingness, still unused to its absence despite spending many months without it sitting comfortably around his neck. He digs his fingernails softly into the skin of his chest there, thinking hard as he tries to focus on feeling the energy of the water around them.

He can hear and feel _so many things_ in the water, to the boiling of emotion pouring out of Magnus beside him to the movement of some indistinct sea creature many many miles away. He shuts his eyes and tries to listen for Taako, tries to feel his energy, but the waves return nothing to him. He squeezes his eyes firmer shut and tries to feel the sirens, but their poison is so distant and muffling he can’t tell where it comes from.

But while Kravitz floats and thinks and feels, another sensation washes over him. A sensation that causes his fingernails to dig a little firmer around the nonexistent amulet around his neck. He feels the ebb and flow of a mass ten times larger than _The Balance_ , a slither in the water that pauses and pushes with each beat of his companions hearts. He feels his _kraken_ drifting slowly through the ocean, and he knows if anything can help him, his kraken can.

Kravitz opens his eyes slowly after sending a silent signal to the creature. Magnus and Merle look at him expectantly, and Magnus’ anger has since softened into something more worrisome. Kravitz gives them a small, silent nod, before a short moment passes and the pirates feel a heavy shift in the weight of the water.

“Did you find him?” Magnus asks desperately, and Kravitz only just notices now that he’s grasping one of Merle’s hands in comfort.

“We will,” Kravitz assures him, just as a long, dark shadow curls through the water below them. Magnus and Merle whip their heads down to follow it, in time to see the brilliant starry luminescence of the kraken rising from the deep to meet them. 

It’s much less terrifying to see it from above, in which it resembles the soft top of a jellyfish more than a squid as it rises to them. Its sheer size still leaves a heaviness in the boys’ guts, and they look nervously at Kravitz as three of its tendrils coil around their waists and begin to pull them back down into the deep with them.

“This thing is definitely not gonna eat us or anything, right?” Merle asks him as he forces himself to try and relax within the kraken’s grasp.

“Definitely not,” Kravitz promises. “I promise you, it’s on our side.”

Despite the shining cap of the kraken right below them, Kravitz still blinks a light into his eyes so he can look around and offer his companions a clearer view of whatever he sees. One of his hands rubs gently against the tendril wrapped around his waist, channeling his thoughts as clearly as he can to the creature so it knows what they’re looking for. They all stiffen when it emits a low rumble that reverberates through the water, and Magnus and Merle look straight at Kravitz.

“What does that mean?”

Kravitz bites down on his lower lip. “I don’t know.”

The tendrils loosen from around them and let them free, to which they immediately turn to swim out into open waters. Kravitz looks back at the creature, which still moves through the water below them, but which much less determination than before. It lets its tentacles and tendrils flurry and curl through the water curiously as it floats, and Kravitz feels like they’re close.

The section of seabed they’ve found resembles the rocky archipelago where they first met the sirens. Huge stalagmites protrude from the seafloor, some of them curling and entwining to sharp points, some of them short and round with flat, plateaued surfaces. They keep a careful eye on the very bottom of the seafloor, which is covered in hundreds of small stalagmites only just beginning to form, although still sharp at their points.

The three of them swim fairly close together, weaving through the towers of rock and coral to find any hint of life, while the kraken swims dauntingly overheard with its tentacles curiously touching every surface. The pirates stop when they reach a fairly wider stalagmite than the others, using the chance to regroup and figure out where to swim next, until Merle gives Magnus a nudge and points upwards.

The three of them look up into the darkness while the kraken continues swimming on by. As Kravitz lifts his head, his eyes light a path up the side of the stalagmite that goes on for… For what looks like miles. He blinks back at Merle, then the three of them look straight down and find a similar circumstance. The stalagmite before them goes on for miles, and they realise its diameter has to be the most imposing of any of the ones they’ve found so far.

Kravitz only has to throw a look at his kraken before it’s flourishing to a halt and turning back towards them. It lets out another pained note, this one much higher and more grating on the ears, as it swims forwards and collides all of its tentacles to wrap firmly around this stalagmite. 

The boys kick off it and begin to swim downwards, searching for any kind of breach in the wall of it. They hear a cracking of stone echo through the water above them, where the kraken is squeezing its weight around it, but it doesn’t manage to make any kind of entrance beyond the spiderweb of surface damage.

Kravitz feels yet another shift in the weight of the water, this time much more distinct, much more poisonous than the presence of his creature. He stops and spins in the water, summoning Magnus and Merle to do the same, only for them to find themselves face to face with the male siren.

At first he only smiles, somewhat admiringly, at the trio. Like he can’t believe they even made it this far. But the look in his eyes soon devolves into something menacing, and Kravitz quickly kicks himself upwards just as the siren draws a hand back to swipe in his direction. Kravitz looks down in horror when he realises he hadn’t vocalised his instinctive avoidance to the others, but heaves a heavy sigh of relief when he finds Merle channeling a bright white sphere of holy energy around him and Magnus. The siren’s bony claw collides with the edge of their shield and it takes off two of his knuckles in a boiling fizzle, wrenching a guttural howl of pain from deep in his throat.

When the echo of the siren’s howl eventually falls off, they hear a familiar chime that rings through the whole of the stalagmite forest. The three pirates look down to its source, where they can make out the vague shape of the female siren, floating across the sea floor with a bell in one hand. They all look at each other, panicked, knowing little of the bell but enough that the chime was the one thing they heard before Taako took his plunge into the deep.

However, all three of them look at each other will wide, conscious eyes, and its evident the bell had not affected any of them. They begin to relax as the male siren swims away in a flurry of fins and limbs.

Until a heavy grown bellows out from above them.

Kravitz whips his head up to look at his kraken, eyes wide with worry when he spots its tentacles slowly loosening from around the structure. He raises a hand up in an attempt to soothe it, and watches as the largest of its tentacles lifts up and starts to move towards him.

He doesn’t have a chance to comprehend the hostility of it until the tentacle has collided with him at full force, sending him flying to the bottom of the sea bed and into the spiny floor below them.

Piercing damage invades from every side of him, and his vision goes faint for a brief moment before he looks up at his companions. His lapse of concentration dissipates the bubbles from around Magnus and Merle’s heads, only for a moment, before he’s forcing himself awake and willing the air back into and around them. Kravitz looks on with fear as the kraken swings its tentacles wildly around the stalagmites, aiming vague but menacing blows towards his pirate companions.

His first instinct is to swim back up and join them, but a flash of light in the corner of his eye catches his attention towards the bottom of the giant stalagmite structure. A small person-sized hole is bore into the side of it, and he can see the last flurries of a siren tail disappear into it as he floats back up off the seafloor.

Kravitz swims towards it with determination, squeezing into the hole with his feet kicking wildly for purchase. When he tumbles into the sanctum, the first and only thing he sees is a shimmering pool of light reflecting off the light cast by his eyes. The floor inside the stalagmite is filled with gold coins and jewels, and as he lifts his head to look upwards, the inside walls are dug out like shelves to house similarly sparkling treasures. Inside it now, he can feel the strong pull of each and every item, some with great value, some even imbued with magic, but the poisonous aura of the sirens is still present.

He blinks away the light and looks around the room once more, now that the sparkling glint of all the treasures isn’t masking his vision. He shudders at the number of bones laced throughout the pool of gold, but his whole body freezes up at the sight of his captain floating still in the centre of the room.

Kravitz makes one kick towards him before the female siren has spiralled down from above and coiled herself around the unconscious elf. Kravitz stills and looks cautiously at her as she smiles her sharktooth smile at him and runs her fingers lovingly through Taako’s hair.

“Return him,” Kravitz demands.

She laughs, and despite her musical nature, it’s painfully cacophonous. 

“You have no power here,” she mocks, as she holds the animus bell up in one hand. “He got what he wanted, down here in our den. You should let him have his treasure and be gone.”

“How can he possess it if you’ve _killed_ -“

It’s not her laughter this time, but Kravitz’s own thoughts that interrupt his speech. His eyes fall upon Taako’s limp body and he feels cold, realising what he’s said. After his silence, the female screeches with amusement.

“I wouldn’t kill him, dear! That would be _unfair_. But he can never leave us now, or the water within him will drown him alive.”

Kravitz looks up at her with a spark of determination. If the captain isn’t dead, yet, then hope is not lost. He wants to be out with Magnus and Merle, to share this inspiration, but he knows there’s more he can do inside with the cretin before him.

His eyes lock onto the animus bell in her hand. But before he even has a chance to move, bluff, persuade, or even think about his next roll, a weight knocks him from behind and sends him flying into the wall behind her.

Kravitz groans and holds onto the shoulder that collided with the wall of stone. Even under the water, the force of the blow has him hitting the wall hard and sends an ache through him that rattles him to his core. He looks up to see the brother siren in the entryway of the cavern, his tail whipped around him like a fantasy golfer admiring his last swing.

“Are you having trouble, sister?”

“Not at all, brother. Simply explaining to this breathless one that he’s lost, and his captain belongs to our collection now.”

Kravitz kicks himself off the wall to torpedo himself towards her hand holding the animus bell. But before he’s even close to it, she draws her hand away smoothly, and he’s met with the brother’s claw swiping him back across the room.

He lands with a softer blow in the crook of one of the shelves, higher up in the structure. He clutches one hand over the wound slashed across his arm, refusing his vision to haze and righting himself in the nook so he can look down at the two sirens circling the room around Taako’s body.

Kravitz realises that, despite his gift of the sea, the sirens will always be faster than him here. Diving head first towards them will never end well, so he remains holed up in the nook and reaches a hand out to the centre of the room. His fingers twitch as he summons a current, hoping that perhaps he’ll be able to dictate the flow of water around them and affect the way the sirens swim.

The female stumbles ever so slightly when the current begins to drag against her, circling around the room in the opposite way they’re swimming. When she realises there’s magic at play, she turns to look directly at Kravitz and holds both her hands out, willing the water in the room to come to a complete halt.

“You think you have power over us here?” she bellows at him, catching the attention of her brother as she barrels towards Kravitz up high on the shelf.

Kravitz manages to push off the wall and dodge out of the way of her just in time. She crashes headfirst into the wall behind him, dislodging a few stones and sending them crumbling from the high ceiling, only to float gently towards the floor of treasure below them. Seeing his sister hurt, the male siren makes another dive for Kravitz.

He successfully swims out of the way of the brother’s claws, but he’s caught by the siren’s tail as it whips around and sends him flying across the room again. Kravitz lands so hard he sinks slightly into the mass of coins and jewels - when he looks up, he can see the dark shadows of the sirens closing down on him from above, and his first instinct is to feel around for something he can use as a weapon. He spots a pearlescent trident sunk deep into the bed of treasure behind him, and he manages to grab onto the handle of it and pull himself towards it in time to dodge another diving attack from the sirens.

Kravitz plants his feet against the shifting ground and uses the purchase to pull the trident out. When the fork emerges from under the huge weight of treasure, it dislodges and sends a few coins and trinkets flying out from the hole. Kravitz’s eyes catch a glimpse of something quickly buried underneath the sinking of the coins, and he’s distracted enough to take another blow from a spindly tail of the female siren.

He lets the trident fall out of his hands, and as soon as he can regain his composure from the hit he’s swimming back to where he’d found it. The sirens look on curiously as he dives for the treasure, digging through it desperately with his hands until he finds purchase around a heavy, wooden amulet.

The sirens, unrecognising of the dull green gem encased in a carving of rich black tentacles now back in Kravitz’s hands, take their time to menacingly circle him from above. He keeps one hand gripped tightly around it, finding a familiar and comforting warmth filling him from within as he pulls it over his head and lets it rest around his neck.

The gem instantly brightens, almost luminescent as he raises both hands to the ceiling and squeezes his eyes shut in a desperate, telepathic call to his kraken outside. The sirens don’t seem phased by the sudden silence of cracking rocks and water flurries outside, but they stop dead in their tracks when a sudden thud against the outside wall of their stalagmite shakes the entire room.

The kraken sings out a deep, vibrating hum, enough to confuse and distract the sirens from Kravitz as he dives towards Taako floating in the centre of the room. The woman whips her head aside to look at him when she notices the movement, but the room shakes again before she has a chance to act. The crumbling of stones from the ceiling steadily increases, both in number and in size. For the first time since Taako revealed their true natures to his crew, the sirens look startled and a little afraid.

With both hands wrapped around Taako’s midsection to hold him over one shoulder, Kravitz kicks off the ground as hard as he can muster and dives towards the exit. The male siren shrieks and reaches out to him, tail curling up in preparation for a speedy pursuit - but he’s interrupted by a much larger boulder sinking heavily from above him. Kravitz pushes Taako out through the entrance way before turning to look back at the sirens above. The woman is diving towards him, one hand brandishing the bell while the other has her claws bared at him. 

He hastily reaches for the entrance as she approaches, while one hand outstretches towards her. Praying that the destruction of her home will be enough of a distraction to diminish her magic, he blasts another wave of a current towards her, sending her flying backwards against the wall. He pulls his hand back towards himself to summon the bell in his direction, pulling it out through the hole as he kicks his way out into the open waters.

The animus bell sinks to the seafloor, catching on the tip of a tiny stalagmite next to where Taako lays unconscious in the water. Kravitz reaches for him, knowing they’re far from safe as the kraken crashes its tentacles into the sides of the stalagmite to tear the whole thing down with the sirens still inside. 

His whole body aches from the blows and the scratches of the creatures, and he isn’t sure how exactly they’re going to get Taako safely back on land. But he can feel Taako’s soul still present in his body, despite his closed eyes and open mouth flooding his body with sea water. Hearing the dull thud of a particularly heavy stone crashing to the seafloor behind him, Kravitz turns and looks up at where he had last seen his crew mates fighting for their life in the stalagmite forest.

Fear courses through him at the sight of the red stained water above, and he eventually makes out Magnus’ large figure floating in the middle of it. He feels partial relief when he sees Magnus’ air bubble is still encasing his head, but can’t find Merle amidst the destruction. All he can make out is the bright shape of the kraken squeezing and whipping its tentacles in and around the alpha stalagmite, attacking it recklessly despite the almost demolished state of it.

Nervously, Kravitz sends a thought to it to cease its attacks, and sighs in relief when its tentacles slow and eventually halt their movements. It spins slowly then, curling its tendrils around itself before it sinks lower towards the sea bed and begins to reach for Kravitz and his companions.

The feel of a tendril coiling around him and his captain is familiar but terrifying, by not knowing what will happen when they reach the surface. He tries to look out for Merle or see Magnus’ state from their great distance, but the rush of pressure of being pulled upwards is the last straw for Kravitz’s beaten body, and he blacks out before they reach _The Balance_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next one is the final chapter! Here we diverge from canon - there is no inclusion of red robes or the bureau in this fic, so the seventh relic will be something different to match this particular universe. I don't know how action packed or interesting it's going to be, but I really hope you all enjoy it and I'll try to bang out a few extra drawings to finish us off <3


	8. vii - The Final Relic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After recovering from the grasp of the sirens, the crew set out to discover the final relic. Merle plays along. Kravitz loses everything. Magnus betrays a friend. Taako realises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Very diverged from canon, was written before the canon 7th relic reveal)
> 
> I'm so sorry for the long wait of such a lacklustre ending. I held off posting so I could put time into illustrating this, but life got in the way. I've pulled all nighters, I've streamed endlessly, I've worked myself to death, and somehow managed to table at a convention. I'd rather just post this for you as it is, so anyone left waiting doesn't have to wait anymore. One day I'll illustrate it for you, but for now i hope you enjoy.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who's read this and shared it with friends, I loved getting to write a dumb lil pirate AU and I can only hope you like the way I've characterised these amazing characters!

Taako awakens slowly in the safety and comfort of his own cabin. When he opens his eyes he immediately feels a heavy nausea deep in his stomach, and a strain behind his eyes. He opens his mouth to speak and coughs up a literal lungful of water, spilling half the ocean out onto his cabin floor. When his coughing fit ceases and he rolls exhausted onto his back, he sees Merle standing over him with his hands outstretched.

“Merle, I…”

“Don’t talk to me, I’m concentrating,” the cleric interrupts. Taako realises the headache behind his eyes is from a blinding light coming from behind Merle’s hands, which are directed right at him. He feels his muscles begin to relax and the ache slowly subsides, as oxygen fills his lungs again and begins to mingle back into his veins.

He turns his head away from the light instinctively, and finds Magnus sitting hunched over on the chaise. 

“How are you holding up, big guy?” Taako asks, only just hearing how distant and hoarse his voice is. Magnus looks up at him quickly, although a little too quickly judging by the wince and the hand that flies to cradle his own neck.

“Just fine,” Magnus assures him, accompanied by a pained smile. “Kicked some kraken ass until it kicked mine. Merle put me back together pretty good, though. I’m glad to see you’re up and at ‘em.”

“We’ll see,” Taako responds tiredly. When Merle lowers his hands it feels far too soon, like there are still plenty of creases that ought to be ironed out. But Merle claps him affectionately on the shoulder before offering him a hand up, then moves on to work at Kravitz’s wounds.

It takes Kravitz some time to wake up, as it usually takes a _lot_ to knock him out. By the time his eyes are blearily opened, Merle has finished healing him and his three pirate companions are gathered around Taako’s desk on the other end of the room.

Taako has taken each of their relics gained so far, and laid them out on his table with a small piece of parchment in the centre. The paper shows the first drawing they had encountered of the relics all together, with each of their symbols arranged in a circle around a conjoined star. He places the oculus at the top, in line with its circle symbol; the gauntlet to its right; then the folded up belt, the bell, the Philosopher’s stone and the chalice all in clockwise order. He leaves an open space for their final relic, the item with the scarcest amount of information they have.

Simply standing and looking upon their collection is overwhelming. The power emanating from the circle fills everyone in the room, and even Kravitz can feel their tug from where he’s been laid down upon the chaise on the other end of the cabin. 

What Kravitz can’t see, however, is Taako’s fingers dragging slowly over the mysterious symbol of the spiral drawn on the piece of parchment. He can’t hear Taako’s hushed murmurs to his companions, and he can’t see the fear and hurt in Taako’s eyes. He can’t see it when that fear turns into hunger.

All he can make out are the backs of his companions, then their fronts as they each turn to face and approach his limp, still exhausted form.

Kravitz goes to speak, but Taako’s hunger interrupts him in a harsh, cold voice that Kravitz usually only hears shouting orders across deck in the middle of a hailstorm.

“Hold him down.”

Kravitz immediately tenses and jerks against the hold as Magnus bears down on him, clutching him firmly in place. Even Merle has his hands on Kravitz’s shoulders, both men keeping Kravitz firmly pinned to the chaise as Taako remains standing, looking down his nose at him.

“Taako, what’s going on? What are you doing?” A wave crashes against the side of the ship, momentarily covering the cabin portholes with water. This time, none of them flinch.

Eventually, Taako carefully bends down to be at eye level with Kravitz. He raises a hand and hovers it just away from Kravitz’s cheek, not allowing himself to touch him. The distance between them aches almost as much as the firm grip of Magnus’ hands around his arms. Taako soon drops his hand down lower, his palm covering the amulet on his chest.

“Items of great power,” Taako says quietly, almost whispering at this point. “The power to change, to create, to _control_ …”

Kravitz’s eyes blow wide and he looks down at Taako’s hand, just as the elf gives a sharp tug and snaps the chain from around Kravitz’s neck. The mage shouts, startled and terrified by the action, and he doesn’t fear for his dignity as he begs his captain.

“Please, don’t! Taako! Don’t take this from me again! I don’t know if - It can’t be the -“

He begins to kick at Magnus’ hold as Taako turns away from him and walks back to his desk, his gaze firmly affixed on the amulet in his hands. 

“All along,” he muses, ignoring Kravitz’s shouting. “It was with us all along, before we even knew the depth of our quest.”

Kravitz cries out again, and this time Merle pulls his arms away to cast some spell on him that mutes his voice before it even leaves his throat. Taako glances back curiously at the silence spell, before he turns his full attention to the display on his desk. He sits the amulet down in the empty space, taking a moment to admire the completed collection.

Kravitz shouts involuntarily, despite his silent shield. The light that fills his eyes and aids them underwater suddenly flashes under his eyelids and fills the whole room with a momentary light, the severity resembling a spark of lightning confined within the cabin. It startles Magnus into lowering his guard, if only for a moment, but it’s enough for Kravitz to rise to his feet. Magnus immediately grabs for him again and holds him steadily in place, but allows him to stay standing.

Once Taako has recovered from the shock of the light, he looks back at Kravitz, noticing some new brand of fear in his eyes. His mouth starts moving like he’s talking now, and Merle looks at his captain questioningly, gesturing at his throat and asking whether he should remove the silence or not.

Taako stays quiet as he begins piling the relics back up, scooping them into the cup of the chalice to keep them all together. He keeps his head down and his eyes away from any of the others in the room.

“We’d better find an island to use these on,” he thinks aloud. “Don’t want to go and accidentally transmute the ship into something irreparable. We’ve got a lot of magic to test.”

Taako finally turns and looks Kravitz in the eye. Kravitz stops trying to talk and looks straight back at him. The desperation begins to burn Taako’s retinas and he averts his gaze once more, looking in the middle ground between the three men on the other side of the room.

“Better put him in the brig while we head onwards,” he says, much quieter now, and turns away as Magnus drags Kravitz out of the cabin.

—

With no idea of where they’re heading or how long it will take, Kravitz feels powerless in his cell. Their brig is even smaller and dirtier than the one he was found in on the navy ship, many months ago. Several times, the thought of pulling the ocean around the ship and sinking them has crossed his mind; he certainly wouldn’t have any trouble surviving it, but he can’t bring himself to endanger so many people he’s come to know as his friends.

Even the thought of hurting Taako fills him with nausea, despite his betrayal, and despite the emptiness Kravitz feels to have his amulet ripped from him once again. When he first lost it in Phandalin, its absence was a discomfort at worst. But to feel the wrath of his own creature turned against him, with only his amulet giving him the power to turn it back, Kravitz feels absolutely terrified without it. 

What will happen to him if his kraken is willed against him again, without any kind of anchor to return it? What will happen to the kraken without his soul bound to it? And what on earth would Taako even use its power for?

Kravitz doesn’t doubt for a moment that he will be killed once the power of the artefacts have been harnessed. Taako won’t want loose strings left floating around the ocean, he won’t want to deal with Kravitz’s demands for the amulet to be returned. He definitely won’t give Kravitz the chance to even think about using his powers against him. He knows he will be killed as soon as they arrive at their destination, and he’ll never get to see his crew, his kraken, or his captain ever again.

So yes, the thought of drowning the ship passes by him a few more times. The internal struggle continues as he threads his fingers through his hair and pulls, trying to distract from the pained tears welling in his eyes. He thinks of all the friends he will lose if he tries to escape, and all the friends he will lose if he complies. He imagines Taako’s newly harnessed wrath of ancient power, whether it be directed at him or the ocean. It all feels the same to Kravitz, so he stays sitting in the corner of his cell, pulling his hair and struggling to breathe. He is trapped, and he is alone.

—

Taako keeps himself cooped up in his cabin, but watches their journey through the porthole by his bed with unblinking dedication. He glances suddenly at the door when he hears it creak open, but immediately returns his gaze to the window when he finds its only Magnus inching into the room.

“You called for me?” Magnus asks, approaching the bed carefully.

“Have you seen Kravitz today?” Taako asks in response, still unable to hold eye contact.

Magnus is quiet for a moment before he eventually sits on the corner of the mattress furthest from his captain. “No, didn’t think he’d want to see me,” he eventually admits.

“Me neither,” Taako agrees. He flinches at the sight of a wave crashing against the side of the ship, until he realises it’s only small and perfectly natural from the direction they’re heading.

“Do you have a plan?” Magnus finally asks, and Taako can feel the bed dip as he leans closer to him. 

Taako thinks for a moment, then finally tears his eyes away from the window to look at his first mate. He feels so on-edge, and he knows the others can see it in him. Even being in the same room as all seven relics is biting at him from within, sending an itch through him that he doesn’t know how to scratch. He thought it would be distracting and irritating, but if anything, the constant awareness has helped him focus his unwavering attention on the relics and their quest.

“The island we’re heading to is, just, nothing,” Taako starts. “Uninhabited. Far away from people. We’ll take the artefacts there and see what we can do with them, safely away from the ship and the crew.”

Magnus thinks about that for a moment, then asks quietly, “We?”

Taako looks over at the safe under his desk, then back over at his first mate.

“I want to be powerful, Maggie,” Taako says, although the nickname feels forced and bland when he says it. He looks away guiltily. “I want to be the best captain in all of Faerun, and take our crew wherever they want to go. But I… I don’t know if I can wield these things on my own.”

Taako balls his hands into fists and digs them into his lap. “I think, depending on how things go when we hit land, you should take something too. And Merle. And…”

“We can control it together,” Magnus offers, although it sounds more like a question. “All four of us.”

Taako shuts his eyes and nods.

“That way I won’t have to… Take anything from him. He can keep his piece, we just need to stay together.”

Magnus nods in understanding. “We should be arriving soon,” he offers. “I’ll fetch him from the brig, Merle can ready a row boat, and we’ll head for shore. I’ll let you explain the plan when we land.”

Taako quickly lifts his head to look back out the window, and surely enough, he catches sight of land on the horizon. He turns back to Magnus, but the first mate has already left, leaving him alone with the sound of lapping waves and the tug of his unscratchable itch.

—

The row to the island is relatively quiet as the four of them sit in silence. Taako helps Merle row, while Magnus firmly holds Kravitz’s hands behind his back. Even though he’s shown no restraint since they pulled him from his cell, they know they can’t be too careful considering the value of what they’ve all just stolen from him.

When the silence is finally broken, none of them expect it to be from Kravitz. “What is this island we’re going to?” He asks to test the waters of how much they’re willing to share with him.

Merle looks curiously at Taako, not really sure what to say. Taako keeps his back to Kravitz and shrugs, “It’s nothing. Just some place distant.”

It puts none of their nerves at ease as they beach their boat up the shore and begin to climb out. Magnus guides Kravitz up the shore with his hands still held, as Taako walks ahead of all of them with a heavy lockbox held in both arms. 

They come to a halt where the sand hardens into dirt, and Taako lowers the dropbox onto the grassy ground. He unlocks it with a key drawn from his sleeve, and simply stares into its contents for a moment once it’s open.

“So,” Magnus tries, “Should we all grab a piece, or what?”

“No,” Taako says quickly, whipping a head back to look at him. “I want to… Just let me try it first. Get back.”

Merle and Magnus exchange a worried look, and none of them miss the burning hunger that’s returned to Taako’s eyes. Nevertheless, they do as they’re told, Merle waddling back to the sands and Magnus pulling Kravitz with them.

Slowly and carefully, Taako pulls out each item. He slips the gauntlet onto his right hand, tugs the amulet around his neck to accompany the Oculus and clasps the belt around his waist. He scoops the Philosopher’s stone into the chalice and holds it tightly in his gloved hand, then tilts his head back and stands idly in the sunlight. Taako takes a deep breath and tries to keep himself from fainting at the sudden rush that bellows through him. 

Magnus only just resists calling out and asking if he’s okay. Eventually, Taako turns to acknowledge them, then touches his ungloved hand curiously to the amulet around his neck. The jewel glows under his fingertips like it’s never done before, and he feels another presence occupying his mind. He squeezes his eyes shut and tries to concentrate, overwhelmed by this feeling of being cramped out of his own headspace.

He uses his decades of meditation to try and centre himself, and once the feeling is less uncomfortable, Taako looks out towards the sparse ocean before them. He reaches a hand out rather cluelessly, then tries to beckon some invisible force towards him. Magnus and Merle lean a little closer when the waves lapping at the beach flurry up a little, but breathe a sigh of relief when little else happens.

Taako waits for a beat, then beckons again. The water comes more forcefully, but continues to roll back in its usual form. He breathes out a sharp frustrated breath, and raises a hand to beckon once more. But before he has a chance to move, a huge shape breaches the surface of the water a few dozen yards from the shore. They clutch their hands over their ears at the familiar sound of the kraken’s welcoming screech, before quickly looking up to watch as its tentacles begin to slither up the shore towards where they stand. It pulls itself forward into the shallows, sending huge waves of water splashing up over the grass as it does, and finally comes to rest in front of Taako.

Taako swallows a thick lump in his throat. Even out of water, the size and ferocity of the kraken is overwhelming enough for Taako to need to catch his breath at the mere sight of it, but he soon finds himself smiling in the presence of such a creature. He lowers his hand down to his side and tries thinking a command, immediately amazed when the kraken begins to lift one of its largest tentacles up out of the water.

Magnus sees the display and immediately panics, thinking his captain about to be attacked. He shouts Taako’s name and pushes Kravitz aside, then makes an immediate stride for him. As soon as Kravitz is let go, he sprints towards the kraken as well, desperate to see if he can commune with it.

Taako turns to look at him, brows furrowed in confusion as he sees Magnus begin to approach. The kraken, however, senses the movement and roars even louder this time, stumbling them all in their tracks. It has the same thought Magnus had, worrying for the safety of its new master around who it considers to be strangers. Taako doesn’t even have a chance to register the confusing thoughts jumbling around his head before the kraken has swiped one of his tentacles towards his companions, blowing them all back against the shore.

Taako stands frozen in shock as the pirates haze out of consciousness from the sheer force of the blow. The last thing Kravitz sees before joining them is Taako’s shaking hands and stumbling steps as he backs up into the grasp of the kraken.

—

“I think I owe you, above all else, like seven apologies.”

Kravitz lets out and involuntary groan as he carefully rolls onto his back. He blinks his vision clear to find Taako sitting at his deck chair, feet up on the desk itself, pretending to examine his nails. When Taako sees Kravitz is awake, he continues.

“I mean, sorry, to get that out of the way. Anyway - It took a while, but I actually managed to understand those voices in my head. You hear that all the time?”

Kravitz slowly hoists himself up to be leaning on his elbows. He nods. Being soulbound to something is not an exaggeration, and that’s not taking into account the psychic understanding of everything else in the ocean.

“I ought to take you on vacation, my dude.” Taako tilts his head back to stare at the ceiling. “I don’t speak fish, and it doesn’t speak elf, but I think we managed to understand each other well enough. Gave it the low down, tried to explain that you guys were friends. Do you know how hard it is to sign language a word for friendship when you’re just thinking random shapes and sounds?” Taako looks back down at Kravitz this time, as if he’s expecting an answer, but he eventually looks back up and continues on.

“It was kind of sobering to, you know, watch you guys get beat down so easy. By something that I know you’re really close to. Again - Sorry about that. I was a little nervous about what could happen with the rest of the relics. Would the stone accidentally alchemise the entire ocean into salt? Like, how fucked up with that be? I don’t know how to control this shit.”

As Taako rambles on, Kravitz slowly begins to come to terms with his consciousness. He realises belated that he’s laying atop Taako’s bed, and Magnus is laying soundly asleep next to him. He peers across the room to confirm that Merle is there too, slowly rubbing his head and sitting up from his place on the chaise. 

Kravitz also notices the lockbox sitting on the desk in front of Taako, its lid completely open, but Kravitz can’t make note of anything inside it.

“Taako,” he finally interrupts, startling his captain into silence. “What happened?”

Taako releases a heavy, exaggerated sigh. “I’m _getting_ to that.”

Kravitz first instinct is to hunch back down, laugh and apologise, but something keeps him sitting upright, something keeps his eye contact held firm.

It’s Taako’s turn to slouch slightly, as he mutters another, “Sorry, for that too.”

“As I was… Getting to,” he continues, pausing here and there to think more carefully about his words, suddenly aware of his rambling procrastination. “I fed everything to the kraken.”

A heavy, stunned silence falls over the room as Taako retains his eye contact with the ceiling. Even Merle is blinking confusedly towards them now, having just awoken properly to hear this out of context statement. Kravitz looks from Merle, to Magnus, to Taako, frowning slightly as he tries to comprehend what he’s just heard.

“You -“

“Straight down its gullet,” Taako interrupts. “Or, beak? Sucker thing? I don’t know what’s going on down there, but there’s a lot of teeth.” He suddenly drops his feet off the edge of the desk and plants them on the ground, then folds his elbows against his knees so he’s leaning much closer to Kravitz.

“You know what I realised, when it took you guys out so easy?” His voice is much softer now, so much so that Merle has to strain his ears to hear from across the room. “The things you could do with that power on the high seas… The power _you_ already have untapped. That’s one seventh of what we could accomplish if we put all of these relics to use, to rule the ocean beyond our realm.

“Imagine it. I did. Very vividly, when I watched all three of you collapse on that beach. I could imagine the riches alchemised by the stone, the fear summoned by the gauntlet, the mistakes undone by the chalice. How… immortalising, you know? How fearsome. How powerful.”

He pulls a disgusted face. “How _boring_.”

Kravitz carefully rises so he’s sitting up entirely, swinging his legs off the side of the bed. He looks up at the empty lock box, then back at Taako incredulously.

“Boring?”

“Fuck the cheat codes, is what I’m saying. This is my life out here; exploring; plundering; existing. Why the fuck would I want a box of shit that takes all of that away?”

Kravitz starts to laugh, but his face is still warped into a confused frown. 

“But _why_ -“

“Feed your fish? Because let’s be real, it would _fucking suck_ if someone else got their hands on those babies and let loose a flurry that we would be on the losing side of. Imagine if someone worse than me got a hold of that shit.” He presses an offended hand to his chest, and raises one eyebrow. Kravitz’s frown begins to ease into an actual smile, but he can’t look away from the box.

“I know this means I’ve kind of… wasted all your time,” Taako adds, withdrawing the hand hesitantly. “You’ve risked a lot to find these things; all three of you. Is Maggie awake yet?”

Kravitz shakes his head and Taako makes an indignant noise.

“You’ve risked a lot, basically. You’ve spent a lot of time on this hunt. So that was kind of a jerk move of me to just go and throw it all away, pretty literally. I mean, I was thinking very in-the-moment. It felt dramatic at the time. You should’ve been there.”

Merle has finally stood from the chaise and made his slow, exhausted way over to them. He puts a hand on Taako’s knee, half for comfort, half to lean his weight against him, and nods solemnly.

“I’m in it for the adventure, kiddo. You do owe me, like, a lot. But I’m not going to go abandon ship on you,” Merle assures him, spreading a wide smile across Taako’s face.

“Well, I can start that repayment immediately,” he announces, and jumps to his feet. He reaches both hands into the lockbox and pulls out two fistfuls of gold coins, then hands them immediately over to Merle. Merle looks delighted at the payment, and lifts the bottom of his shirt to hold the coins in it.

“I may have been thinking in the moment, but I did take a quick second to consider our future,” Taako quickly adds, pointedly at Kravitz when he notices Kravitz’s judging look. “I’m not about to throw away months of worth without alchemising _any_ gold for my trouble, you know? Plus, Merle is a savage for that shit.”

Merle laughs, delighted, but gives Taako a gentle kick to the back of his leg.

“Go give that to the crew, Merle, I’ll give you more for yourself when you get back,” Taako promises, and nods towards the door. He waits until the dwarf has left and shut the door behind him before he turns to Kravitz with a more serious look on his face.

“Don’t say it, okay? I know what you’re going to say, you’re gonna be all sad and shit, but before you do, I gotta - “

Kravitz keeps opening his mouth to interrupt, but Taako is very good at talking breathlessly. He eventually settles when Taako holds a finger up, then turns back to the lockbox.

“Close your eyes,” Taako teases. Kravitz stares at him, unblinking. Taako quickly retracts. “Or not.”

He drops Kravitz’s amulet into his lap without another moment of hesitation and watches as the life breathes back into Kravitz’s shoulders. He clutches it tightly to his chest, allowing himself just a moment to feel it in his hands, before he looks up and gives Taako a venomous glare.

“Oh come on,” Taako tries to tease, but he looks clearly worried. “You didn’t think I’d just chuck that too, right? It’s practically one of the family.”

Kravitz eases up his over-exaggerated glare and pulls Taako into tight hug. Taako does little to reciprocate it, but gently pats a hand against Kravitz’s shoulder. When he pulls away to tie the amulet around his neck, Taako still looks a little uncertain.

“You know I don’t deserve that.”

“I know,” Kravitz agrees, but can’t help smiling up at his captain as he takes a seat back on the side of the bed. “But I’ll forgive you eventually, might as well get started now.”

Taako’s shoulders seem to slump from a tension Kravitz didn’t realise had been holding him. “You going to stay?” He asks, incredulous.

“These have been the best few months of my life,” Kravitz clarifies. “Even with… everything going so, so wrong, I can’t imagine sailing with any other crew. So yes, of course I’m staying. It might take a little more than gold to bribe your way back into my good books, though.” 

Taako beams at him and drops heavily in the spot next to him on the bed. He merely looks at Kravitz for a moment, taking him in, comprehending the man in front of him, until he drops his chin onto Kravitz’s shoulder and looks over at Magnus’ still-unconscious form on the bed.

“What do you think we ought to do about him?” He asks, and Kravitz can hear the sigh in his voice.

“You should probably just go over everything again when he wakes up,” Kravitz suggests. “Maybe let me be captain for a few days.”

Taako chews his lip and tilts his head curiously as he watches his first mate sleep.

“ _Or_ ,” he wonders aloud. “We could tell him I accidentally alchemised all of the artefacts into gold, and see how long it takes for him to realise we’re bullshitting.”

Kravitz smirks, but it quickly fades when he realises a thought.

“ _Could_ you alchemise another relic? Or are they, like, protected by some un-transmutable power?”

Taako goes quiet. 

“Fuck,” he whispers. “I should’a tested that.”

In the end, it’s the volume of Kravitz’s laughter that has Magnus finally stirring into consciousness. 

—

Taako extends his spyglass out to scan the deck of the ship. With everything moving as it ought to, he flips the glass over, and examines his hand through the opposite end.

“Hey Kravitz,” he calls out, eventually tucking the glass boredly back into his thick new coat. “Your turn. Hot or cold?”

Kravitz pushes his sleeves up to his elbows as he jogs up to the quarterdeck where Taako is sitting. He wipes his forearm across his brow, squints up at the sun, then rests both hands upon his hips when he turns to address his captain.

“Cold.”

Taako grins and stands from his seat, crossing to the wheel. “Ever been to Peltarch?” 

“I can’t say I have,” Kravitz responds, joining his captain and the navigator at the wheel.

“There’s a beautiful restaurant right as you pull up to the port. Very beautiful, very cosy. Quite anachronistic compared to the rest of the town.” Taako nods at Avi manning the wheel, and pulls a map from the inside of his jacket. He adds, “The wine is to die for.”

Kravitz grins and leans his against the wheel as the navigator gets his bearings with the map. 

“It’s a date.”


End file.
